


Frostbite and Bionic Arms

by Schmandolini



Series: WinterIron: Frostbite [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awful Bakery Puns, Clint Barton Has Issues, Doombots, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Hurt Tony, Hurt/Comfort, James "Bucky" Barnes Needs A Hug, M/M, Not Wanda Friendly, Post CA:CW, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Slow Burn, Steve Rogers Redemption Arc, Steve Rogers is not the best bro, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, rhodey is best bro, starkbucks - Freeform, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-04 21:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 56,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14601720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schmandolini/pseuds/Schmandolini
Summary: After Civil War, Tony is left with several broken pieces of his life. He puts them together with the help of Rhodey, Pepper, Peter.After Civil War, Bucky is left with the realisation of his identity, his past and his best friend Steve Rogers.Sometimes, things don't work out the way you expect them too, and they end up so much better.





	1. Ymir

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. A few things. This is the first chapter of many, it's gonna be a long ride. This chapter is called 'Ymir' for the reason that that's the villain our heroes face. Ymir, who is a frost giant in both Norse Mythology and in the Marvel Comics. I changed a few things from Ymir to fit a more ethereal, norse myth-kind of vibe.  
> This chapter is purely based on Tony- his recovery and his struggle to fight alone.  
> The next chapter will be purely on James/Bucky. But the 3rd will be the two together. I hope to update soon again, regularly and subsequently finish this fic within the next month.  
> Following this fic, there will be more :D  
> So, please stay tuned, enjoy, leave kudos and comment! This is my first multi-chapter fic and I'm very excited to finish this!  
> Have fun!

“So you are man who has everything- and nothing.”

These words impacted Tony Stark more than he’d ever admit to anyone. The dying words of Yinsen-a brave man who sacrificed himself for Tony- were kept close to Tony’s heart, words he made sure to never fade. A man who has everything and nothing- He has money, he has reputation, he has power. But he feels numb, empty, cold. Panic attacks creep up on him and he used to shut off the outside world-isolate himself in his workshop. Now, he has Rhodey. Rhodey, who moved in with him, who was so  _staunchly_ optimistic. But not even Rhodey's optimism could curb the things that haunt Tony-nightmares. 

Sometimes all he can do is hold his face in his hands, try and breathe in and out. Try and take the day by each second or else he can’t _breathe_. And then there’s Rhodey there, who’s there to catch him. Sometimes Tony’s afraid that Rhodey will leave. But he doesn’t.

With Pepper, she tried so valiantly to help him. But Tony had learnt the hard way that love won’t fix what’s wrong with him. And maybe nothing will. He doesn't know how to feel about that. It was easier to ignore the ever-present existential dread and guilt when he had a bottle of  _something_ in his hand- and sometimes he was  _so_ tempted. It was harder to do anything nowadays, his fingers not cooperating after the cold but he didn't want to complain. Rhodey wasn't complaining about the loss of his legs- something that still wracked tony's thoughts- and the least Tony could do was repay his best friend with a way to recovery. And minimal complaining. 

But as he was coming to grips with what happened, his mistakes, the aftermath and the effects when something changed. 

That’s when something changed. But it was something Tony had foreseen. 

Meeting James “Bucky” Barnes had not gone the way he expected it to go. When he saw that Barnes- James. Jimothy.- had his arm blown off, he flew over, offering him an arm. And James had taken it. Of course Tony had already done some schematics, after he heard about Shuri’s work on James’ arm, his curiosity got the better of him. Besides, he was a pragmatist. He knew that if something happened to James' arm, a flight to Wakanda might not be his first option. 

He may have a ‘healthier’ work style now, but he’s still a mechanic at heart who spent most of his life buried in his workshop so he had no qualms about spending most of his time designing and sketching.

Tony had meant every word he said to James. Forgiving James was surprisingly easy- it wasn’t _him_ Tony was mad and scared of. Tony  _completely_ understood the effects of brain-washing and mind control. Some nights he couldn't  _sleep_ because he understood it too well. 

After James had left, Tony stayed in his workshop. He felt lighter and easier than he had in months, and he was tentative. Sure, he still felt the cold in the pits of his lungs and there was the constant physical nausea of anxiety but he felt a sort of relief in his muscles. His back wasn’t as tense anymore and he exhaled, tired. He took out his phone, placing it on his desk.

“Friday, can you text Rhodey that I’m working late tonight?”

_“Of course, boss”_

And so, Tony etched out a final design of James’ arm. His fingers were not as cooperative as he would have liked them and he was slightly miffed that he wouldn’t be able to craft this arm himself, however, he was excited. There were some parts of the arm he could build himself and the rest, he’d make sure worked perfectly. It was just like old times- Tony, immersed in his work- when Peter came down to the workshop with a plate with two sandwiches on it and coffee.

“Hey, Mr. Stark!” The teen greeted him cheerfully and Tony looked up with an tired smile.

“Peter, you don’t have to call me that. You can call me Tony, you know” He chuckled. “But I see you bring nourishment, so really, call me whatever you want. It’s very convenient timing as I need your opinion on something.” Tony didn’t need a 2nd opinion on it, but Peter’s mind was as brilliant as Tony had been at his age, maybe even better, and Tony wanted Peter to be better than he had been. Than he was.

Peter grinned, “Really? What are you working on?” He set down the plate and coffee next to Tony and walked around to look at the plans. Tony dug into the sandwich and coffee, not the young man he used to be, and started talking.

“Building a new arm for James. Bucky. Barnes. Whatever, the wild-haired brunette with the metal arm. Or, shoulder, now.” Peter nodded thoughtfully as he looked over the plans. “You’re building him a new arm? That’s so cool! What happened, though?”

“With his arm? Got blown off” Tony mumbled after swallowing a mouthful of food. Peter’s eyes widened but he didn’t say anything, nodding. “So, does that mean you had contact with the Rogue Avengers?” Peter asked in a small voice. Tony shrugged, “I wouldn’t call it contact. I picked him up and brought him here. I know what it looks like, but it’s not _him_ I have problems with.”

Peter nodded again, “Right. Right. Right. Yeah, of course” he mumbled, “Well, maybe if you change this part of the arm to correlate with this one-“ Peter pointed at various points over the schematics, “You could include a sort of knife from the inside of his wrist!” He grinned excitedly and moved his hand up with his palm flat and punched it in the air. “You ever play that game Assassin’s Creed? Like a secret dagger hidden in the arm!” He said and Tony shook his head, “I haven’t played it but that does sound like something Barnes would like. Maybe” He grinned in response to Peter’s excitement, “We could build so much shit into this arm, deck it out with like-“

“Kid, we’re not building him a killing arm. An arm. If he wants all those designs, I’ll make sure to call you, okay?” Tony grinned and Peter nodded. “It will be an honour”

*

Rhodey and Pepper stood in the kitchen, talking quietly while cooking dinner. Tony wasn’t listening or paying much attention, looking over the assignments he’d given various engineers. He gave them different pieces to build but he wanted to be the one to fully assemble the arm and call Barnes. The man had left a warm impression on Tony, so unlike anything he’d expected, especially next to Rogers.

“Tony? What do you think?” Pepper asked, turning to the man hunched over his Stark Pad. Tony looked up with raised eyebrows. “Think about what? Sorry, I wasn’t listening. I’m looking over business stuff” He grinned at the woman who rolled her eyes. “At least it’s ‘business stuff’. I mean about the Avengers. I know you thought about it a while ago but I think under the circumstances, now more than ever, it would be a good idea if you retire, somewhat. Or not retire, but maybe stay home and remote control your suit rather than go out yourself?” Pepper asked, somewhat hesitant but care laced in her voice. Rhodey looked a bit uneasy, still in his wheelchair. It had been 12 months since the so-called ‘Civil War’ and Rhodey’s recovery was a slow, slow process. Tony had to give it to him though, the man’s spirit never wavered.

“Maybe. So far there’s only been two missions and they were easy to handle. I just know there’s something coming to Earth, something big and I want to be ready. I want to be there to fight” Tony said, sighing. He kept telling people, he kept saying it but no one quite believed him. Sure, they believed there are aliens and there are probably more villains, but no one believed Tony when he said something was coming to destroy the world. And he knows what he sounds like-but he couldn’t shake off this knowledge. He still saw it in his dreams. Pepper nodded, “But it’s something to think about? I’m sure not every mission needs you in the suit- if it’s something easy and not like the Invasion, then maybe?” She looked at him with -with _that_ look. That look could melt Tony any time and he gave in, nodding. “Maybe, Pepper. What are you cookin’?” Tony asked, distracting from the topic.

Rhodey grinned, “Pepper’s been in and out of business meetings all over the world and she’s bringing home some Indian cuisine.” He said, and Tony could see the excitement over something so simple as food. But Pepper’s always been a nice cook and Tony suddenly felt this ache in his chest. Bruce used to cook Indian cuisine for the Avengers. Back then. Back when Bruce was still around and the others hadn’t stabbed him in the back.

He wonders where Bruce was now. Maybe with Thor. He hoped they were all right. If-when- they came back to earth, there would be so much to explain. Things he didn’t really want to explain. How could he explain it without bitterness and pettiness in his tone? “Sorry, the Avengers split up because Steve thought he knew everything better and the others chose his side?” It was true to an extent, but he really needed to find a better way to phrase it.

Rhodey wheeled over to Tony, putting a hang on his arm. “What’cha thinking?” He asked gently. Tony gave him a small smile, “Just miss Bruce. I’m sure he’s fine” He shrugged. “I’m also thinking about designing some new braces for your legs. I think I can figure out the right design for your legs-so you can walk a bit more.” Tony grinned, opening up the plans he had for Rhodey on his Stark Pad. Rhodey watched with enthusiasm in his eyes but Tony sensed some hesitancy. And if it were him, and someone told him they could fix his fingers, he’d be hesitant as well. “That’s amazing, Tony, thank you.”

*

It was one of those sleepless nights where dreams were filled with pain and guilt where Tony found no peace. Rhodey, according to Friday, managed to fall asleep after tossing and turning for a couple of hours himself. The time on his phone read 3:31 am. He couldn't believe he had tried to fall asleep for so long.  If he wasn’t going to sleep, he might as well be functional.

He made his way down to his workshop, uncomfortable thoughts luring in the back of his head. Uncomfortable. It was this feeling of discomfort that struck him on this particular night. It was different from the usual physical sickness ( _Rogers beating his shield into his heart_ ) or the numbing emptiness he felt in his stomach ( _Left behind to die in that bunker. Cold._ ). It was different to the panic and anxiety he’d feel curl around his spine and bury in his heart ( _Wanda_ _. The Worm Hole. New York City Invaded. Rogers dying. Everyone else dead_ ).

He felt uncomfortable in a way he couldn't even describe to himself. It was in his head, but also every where? It was as if everything  _else_ was crashing on him. 

He couldn’t pin-point _exactly_ what it was, but he wanted to get rid of the feeling.

To be honest, he was just happy he wasn’t feeling so _cold_ anymore as he used to. He still feels cold, still feels _chills_ whenever he hears Rogers’ voice. Sees his face. He thought it would get easier but it didn't. He was everywhere, it felt like he would never be free. The TV, on missions, his own treacherous dreams.

Sometimes Rogers appears before Ultron or even before the Civil War- _Happy. Calm. Fake._

Sometimes Rogers appears dying before him, a mirror of the vision he saw from Wanda’s hands.

Sometimes Rogers appears above him, gripping the shield tightly, about to lodge it in his chest. He couldn’t tell which are the worst ones.

Even now, having almost no direct contact to the man, he was still haunting Tony. But facing this, facing his feelings and thoughts and confronting Rogers? That sounded worse. One thing was clear to Tony however and he knew he needed to get rid of this feeling before it could settle and join the other downfalls of his life.

And so he started tinkering, with his numb fingers, with Friday in his ears, he started building and creating. It was so easy to fall into the familiar work pattern had it not been for the alarm that blasted all of a sudden in the air.

*

Ymir, an ancient frost giant, was making his way from the arctic over through Canada, leaving destruction in its wake. ‘ _too bad Thor isn’t here_ ’ Tony thought, ‘ _He’d be the one to know about this giant_ ’

The Rogue Avengers, sans Winter Soldier, were already on their way in the Quinjet to the Arctic. Tony had suited up and started flying. He wasn’t about to encounter a magical being that threw ice in only one suit. Peter had called him, Peter, and protested that he wasn’t allowed to go. Tony had shut him down however as it was now 5 am and he wouldn’t have Peter get injured whilst battling a frost giant. He may be a lot of things, but he drew the line at this.

What he didn’t know however was that Peter was on his way; so was Dr. Strange, a ‘ _Wizard? Mage? Sorcerer?_ ’ Tony was not sure, was on his way with the teen, being flown in with a Jet, given by the Accords Council. Apparently, they wanted _all_ hands on deck for this magical being.

Tony wasn’t sure what to expect and if it had been in a movie, he’d have laughed at how fake it would have looked. Because he was flying high and in front of him stood a giant ice block that had the vague shape of a human. He could make out two thick _legs?_ And two _arms?_ And a round shape on top _head?_ It was bizarre. The giant was screaming, there was no voice but it sounded like a snowstorm, avalanche and thunder mixed into one being. It was distracting, to say the least. The Giant, ‘ _Ymir, the council had said. Ancient frost being. Intent on destroying everything in its path_ ’ Tony remembered, raised a fist? And held what- he’s guessing- a giant ice club and howled, aiming for Tony.

Tony flew to the left with one suit and the other two to the right. When the club aimed for Tony, Tony released a dozen of smaller, rounder bots filled with explosives. They flew onto the club and detonated, causing ice and snow to explode. They melted parts of the ice club but the ice was _so_ thick and there was _so_ much. When the giant- Ymir- regenerated his ice club with _more_ ice and snow, Tony was truly astounded. Well, fuck.

Just then, he heard a new voice over the comm. ‘Stark! Tell me what the Giant looks like’ ‘Strange? Uh- what do you think a giant block of ice that moves look like? I can’t see any eyes or anything resembling a face but it has a mouth and it’s screaming just sounds like more-uh snow and rock?’ Tony guessed, flying around the Giant with the other suits, trying to find anything that looked like a face. ‘If it truly is Ymir, then there’s no other way but to lead him away from civilisation’ Strange replied, sounding tired and almost -bored- if Tony didn’t know better.

“Great! I was just going to go for a walk with him up to the most northern part of Canada! We’re old buddies like that” Tony shook his head. That’s when Tony’s heart ran cold again- and just when he thought he felt warm, Rogers’ voice appeared. ‘No, of course not. Strange is the Supreme Sorcerer. He’ll conjure a portal’

“Why, yes of _course_ I will, Captain. Or is it Mister Rogers?” Strange’s voice turned cold and bitter all of a sudden and Tony felt lost. “It’s Mister Rogers, really. You were never an official Captain” Peter’s voice - _Peter_ \- appeared with a sneer and Tony’s heart clenched uncomfortably. Peter shouldn’t be here. There was a sigh- Rogers- and he replied, “Yeah, I never was but I’ve been fully re-instated into active duty and so my name still remains Captain America” Tony thought he could almost hear a bit of remorse or guilt in his voice but he didn’t dwell on it.

“What’s your ETA?” Tony instead asked, still flying. He tried to keep out of the way of Ymir, but keep Ymir out of the way of the next settlement of civilisation. They were in the most northern part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region but Ymir had incredible speed on him that Tony did not anticipate. He was over a thousand feet tall and Tony was for once glad about Siberia-if only because he installed insulation into the walls of his suit to keep out all cold. “Half an hour. All we can do is guide him through a portal- and it’ll be a big one- back to his dimension. I don’t even know how he came to Earth. He’s not from this dimension” Strange explained with confusion and irritation in his voice. Tony, for all his genius intellect, was just at a loss when Strange mentioned portals and dimensions. “Yeah, okay, that sounds like a good plan but what do you want me to do in the mean time? This giant just recovers with _more_ ice when I blast him”

“Just continue. Try to drive him further north” Rogers said and Tony did his best to bite his tongue and not reply what he really thought.

_“Its not like I asked you, Rogers, but it’s not like you’d care anyway”_

“I will try” Is what he said instead. Curious as to why he hadn’t heard from the other Rogue Avengers but happy about it, Tony focused on the Frost Giant. Just when Tony thought one particular blast to the head had done it, the giant stuttering still, Ymir regenerated with ice to form a _bigger_ head and aimed for Tony, launching ice daggers forward from his left ice stump.

“Fuck” Tony cursed, happy to have muted the comms, as he dodged the daggers, flying lower and around Ymir’s legs. Legs? Legs. “Friday, use the cutting lasers. Try to cut through his legs, see if he falls” He thought out loud and Friday lifted the Iron Man hands, activating the lasers on the back of the hands and with the guide of Friday, Tony cut through the massive blocks of Ice, flying horizontally around them. The lasers succeeded in cutting through the ice however the effect was minimal as the ice just _melted_ together and solidified.

“Mr. Stark- It’s Peter! I got a private comm so we can talk without the others. How’s it going with Ymir?” Peter’s voice came through the comm and Tony could only sigh. “Friday, un-mute the comm. Peter? What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in New York” is what he replied. “No, I know, but the Council called me, they called me cell phone, thank god, and they wanted me to come so” Tony could _hear_ Peter’s hesitant smile.

“Alright, kiddo. Alright. Does Aunt May know? Did she call the school?”

“Yeah, yeah, I woke her up and told her. She said she wanted me to bring ice cream on my way back for waking her up. I’m not missing anything important today, though, so it’s okay!”

“Promise me, you’re going to catch up on work though, I don’t want your education be lacking because you had to fight a snow monster of all things.”

“I will! I promise! I’m so excited, a snow monster it’s like having a giant snow ball fight with -with – snow!” Peter laughed and god, Tony’s heart clenched to hear his young voice so excited to fight. Even if it was just a snow monster- a snow monster that was currently winning against Tony- he’s happy that Peter is excited at least. Ymir decided to have enough of the flying man around him and turned his entire focus on Tony now.

“How long away, Peter?” He asked, trying to fly back north so Ymir would follow. He didn’t know what other tricks Ymir knew but Friday guided him/the suit safely out of the way of the ice daggers that were following him now. “Ten minutes, Mr. Stark! Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. None of my tech seems to be doing any damage to this thing and I’m almost becoming a human kebab but it’s great” Tony grinned, hearing Peter exclaim in panic. “Kid, it’s alright. I’ll be fine. It’ll take more than a ice giant to bring me down”

“Dr. Strange says he’ll try and conjure the portal from inside the jet- he can’t exit the plane- and then Mr. Rogers with the Quinjet will help you guide Ymir into it.” Peter explained.

Tony hummed, “uh-huh. Okay. Then why did the Council want all hands on deck? Why are you here? No offense, Peter” He tried to ask in a way that wouldn’t hurt the teen’s feeling. Tony knows all too well what it feels like to feel useless and have it pointed out by an adult-Howard- but he would never want Peter to feel like that.

“Back up! Apparently there’s some **funky** magic trace here and so I’m here as back up” Peter said _way_ too quickly and Tony huffed.

“That’s not true, is it?”

Peter sighed defeated, “Maybe not. But I just really wanted to see this giant ice monster! How many times do I get to see something cool like this?” Tony could hear Peter’s grin through his voice. This kid was so _expressive_ sometimes. “We’re going to have a discussion about this when we get back to New York. Why did Strange even allow you on the plane? And how did you contact him?”

“I don’t know.” Peter said innocently. “All I know is that they didn’t trust Wanda Maximoff with such a job and I also hear that she’s not cleared for active field duty” Peter told him, an underline of glee in his voice and really, he should have never told Peter about what happened with Wanda. He was way too gleeful about this.

“You’re a terrible gossip, Peter. What about the other Rogue Avengers? What are they supposed to do?”

“Well, from what I see, the Quinjet has new additions to it. I guess they have the others there to work the new weaponry attached to it.” Peter said.

“I guess. Are-“ Tony was about to ask where they were when he stopped flying-the ice giant having caught Tony by his legs and holding him still. “Friday, what happened?!” Tony yelled in panic, “blast him!” He groaned, the ice giant closing his newly-formed fingers around Tony’s legs. _“I’m so sorry, Boss, there something invading my sensors. I-I-I-_ “ The AI stuttered and Tony cursed whatever was messing with his girl. This magic ice frost was definitely on Tony’s Top 10 Worst Villains.

Tony moved around, blasting firepower from his repulsors to melt the ice surrounding his legs. He would rather die than let the cold reach him. “Friday, the unibeam!” Tony yelled, “NOW” and Friday activated the unibeam from the arc reactor of the suit. A concentrated beam of energy emerged from the arc reactor, melting the ice instantly and freeing his legs. “More power!” the unibeam increased in quantity and level of destruction as Tony tried to melt Ymir’s hand. It worked so far as that Ymir couldn’t immediately regenerate his melted hand and Tony instantly flew away when he reached with his other hand.

Where were the others?!

Just then, rapid gunfire sounded somewhere behind Tony. “Finally” Tony sighed, flying over Ymir’s head and towards the gunfire. Rogers’ voice sounded in Tony’s head again, “We’re here. Strange, start the portal.” Tony couldn’t properly see the Quinjet or the other jet, a snow storm in the way. He guessed it was Ymir’s snow storm. Snow had slowly picked up from around the ground and Ymir cried out, rocks and thunder, lifting his ice arms and snow started rushing around them. Tony tried to fight against the force of the air, staying on course to reach next to the Quinjet but he lost out soon.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter cried in his ears and Tony groaned, “It’s the wind. This thing really is an inter-dimensional ice monster, kid” He tried to sound calm for Peter was really, he felt the familiar overwhelming panic creep up on him. He was powerless. His lungs felt tight and constricted, there was something in his stomach and he couldn’t breathe. “Tony, come back! Tony!” Peter cried out as the snow sucked Tony to Ymir who punched the suit with his ice club.

The suit, his greatest update yet, cracked and lost all of its energy all of a sudden and he collapsed. He could hear only the roar of the wind and felt the familiar cold creep in the cracks. He dived headfirst to the ground, no control over the suit, and landed in the snow. His breaths were coming in short puffs, he tried to stay calm, he tried to breathe but it was so hard. He tried to claw his way out of the suit, his hands searching for the fail safe exit handles- he would never be trapped in his suit again. He ripped the faceplate off, and was confronted with a face full of snow. Thankfully he didn’t land in any deep part of snow, barely reached through a snow blanket. Tony did his best to focus on getting the suit out and not give in to the cold when a Jet flew down, hovering above the ground. The familiar red and blue of the Spiderman suit clambered on top of the jet and suddenly Tony- and the suit- were being pulled towards the jet.

“Jesus-“ Tony gasped, his heart still constricting him in all the worst ways. He guessed it was the glow of the arc reactor in his chest that gave Peter the light as to where he was. Peter caught him and the suit and a round portal appeared behind them. Peter dropped happily into it and the two of them landed in the familiar surrounding of the- the- _the Tower?_

Air felt like _lead_ -like **concrete-** in his lungs and all he could do was stare at the floor, on his hands and knees as he let the panic and overwhelming feeling of something take over. “Mr. Stark-Tony-Tony” “Tony” voices rang around his head but he couldn’t hear them. The cold- _the cold_ \- was so familiar, he could feel it-on his face- his hands- _his fingers_ \- it was _there_ and he felt tears slide down his cheeks.

He also felt two arms hugging him tightly and a warm hand on his shoulder. It took him exactly three minutes and 31 seconds to come back to himself- he found himself in Peter’s arms and Rhodey next to him.

“What-what just happened?” He gasped, his voice felt tight in his throat. He looked up at Rhodey, those warm, brown eyes held such _empathy_ , leant forward and put his hand on Tony’s cheek. “You’re home. You’re in New York. Peter’s here and I’m here” He said softly and Tony nodded, looking at the young Peter who was still holding him. Peter hugged him tightly and he felt old and weak.

“Thank you” He whispered and wrapped his arm around Peter.

“Of course. That’s what Family does.”


	2. Heavy Boots of Lead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Navigating through life with one (1) arm and one (1) supersoldier friend is not as easy as James 'Bucky' Barnes makes it look. He's still plagued by never-ending nightmares of his victims, but he's slowly regaining a sense of self in this world of witches, anger and angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly just James/Bucky and his snippets of his life. I'm aiming to update every two days! Title is a line from Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man'.

 

_“Your work has been a gift to mankind. You’ve shaped the century. I need you to do it one more time.”_

James shook awake, panting. He looked around, sweat prominent on his forehead, and his empty room stared back at him. Sighing in relief, he looked down and cursed quietly. He held a small knife tightly in his right hand. The knife, one he’d coveted as one of his only possessions, had torn through the sheets and he set the knife on the small night stand next to him. He slid his legs out and sat on the edge of his bed, holding his face in his only hand.

Knives held a familiar feeling, something he was unconditionally connected to. His hands-hand- knew them better than he knew his own body. Considering that part of his body had been high tech out of a futuristic country, that wasn’t _such_ a strong comparison but James didn’t want to think about that right now.

They held something to them though and so James had taken to have at least one knife with him always. He knew what it looked like- ex-brainwashed semi-supersoldier carrying a knife with him. But there was an ex-HYDRA agent that held magic in her body so he figured he was better off with at least one knife. Trouble was, he still reacted to nightmares violently. Hence, the sliced-through-sheets.

He’s embarrassed to admit that they were not the first pair of sheets he destroyed like this- knife in hand, voices in his head.

Steve was catching on that something was wrong with James. Or, _still_ wrong with James. Nightmares, panic attacks, PTSD. That’s what Nakia and Sam had said. Back before HYDRA, James knew of PTSD but they had called it ‘shell shock’ and only soldiers endured it. But James knew better than to think that _only_ soldiers had it.

 Therefore, out of necessity really, James had learnt, or more accurately, re-learnt, how to sow. It was rather calming, sharp needle in his fingers as he threaded through the soft material. It gave him a bit of calm and rest before his thoughts could overwhelm him again.

Now, with one arm gone, he couldn’t fix it himself. Maybe he could secretly throw them away. The skills and abilities he gained under HYDRA were still ingrained into his senses. Whilst those amazing Wakandans had gotten rid of the coding in his brain that reacted to the command words and activated the Winter Soldier, he still inhabited all of his training. Stealth was one of the skills he learned and he bet the only person who could match him would be Black Widow.

_“You are to be the new fist of HYDRA”_

James took a deep breath, straightening his back. He wished he had never woken up.

*

Sam was a source of comfort that James hadn’t expected to be. Whereas Steve was so eager to bury James’ past as ‘Winter Soldier’ and bask in the nostalgia of their pre-War lives, Sam had openly embraced James as both ‘Winter Soldier’ and ‘Bucky’. Spending most of his time between the two of them, James felt a bit guilty that he enjoyed spending time with Sam more, just out of this reason.

It was just- Steve was _so eager_ to ignore the fact that James had killed _hundreds_. And James was jealous, how Steve could seemingly bury his head in the sand, and slightly concerned. Every night was plagued with faces of people he had killed and in so many ways; his nightmares were either seeing the victims of his hands or the Scientists who fried his brain _over and over_. Sometimes, his nightmares were so vivid that James awoke with tears streaming down his face. He could only hope no one had heard him but that would be too merciful.

After James had come back from Tony’s workshop, still smiling, Steve had been angry. Angry, and concerned. “What happened? Did Tony do anything to you? Where’s your arm?!” Steve had asked so many questions and James was too happy and too tired to tell him every single detail. Steve must have thought the worst- just like James had. “Don’t worry, Stevie, Tony didn’t do anything _to_ me. He’s building me a new arm” he simply said and walked past him to the kitchen. Besides, James was _really_ pissed that Steve hadn’t told him everything about Tony. But today was not the day he wanted to talk about it; he was still enjoying the feeling that Tony had left him with.

“What do you mean, he’s building you a new arm?” Steve asked, somewhat hesitant. James would have been too, Tony has more than enough motive for revenge, but the man had sounded so sincere and genuine, James couldn’t help but feel relief and trust. “It’s exactly what it sounds like”

“Who’s building you a new arm?” Sam entered the kitchen. James didn’t know how long he was at Tony’s but it must have been long enough that everyone had gotten back from the de-brief and showered. “Tony.” James said, opening the fridge and taking out his favourite yoghurt.

“Tony’s building you a new arm? That’s cool of him. Are you still in pain? From the blast?” Sam asked, looking at the fixed stump of James’ shoulder. James shrugged, “not really. Besides, it’s nothing against hearing you sing in the shower” He grinned and Sam scoffed, “Please, my singing is _amazing_ ”

Steve chuckled along- Sam’s singing was _not_ amazing- but didn’t say anything else.  James didn’t think anything of it until Steve spoke again, “Since when do you call him Tony?”

“He told me to.” James shrugged, “Doesn’t like being called Stark, I guess.”

“Did he-“ Steve paused then squared his shoulders back, “Did he say anything? About- you know?”

“Yeah, he did. He said he forgives me.” James smiled and the response was astounding. See, James ‘used to be’ a smiling person. Always. But now, he rarely smiled. Steve and Sam could _barely_ get the man to give them half-smiles. But here he was, smiling and it changed everything about James’ face.

Sam grinned happily, “Forgiveness? That’s amazing. I’m so happy, Bucky. Forgiveness is an important step to recovery.” He offered James a hug, asking for consent with his body language. James nodded, ignoring the nickname, and pulled Sam into a tight hug. “How does it feel?” Sam asked after releasing James from the hug.

“it feels incredible.”

“Wow, Buck, I can’t believe it. That’s really great” Steve said with a smile of his own that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Steve walked over and hugged the two other men tightly. Whatever Steve’s problem was, James chose to ignore it. For the first time in _years_ , there _wasn’t_ a tight feeling in his chest and he _didn’t_ feel like throwing up. It was a nice change and he wanted to enjoy the feeling while it lasted-he was sure come night time, he would feel like dying again.

*

Living in the Avengers Compound was rough. There were _certain_ people he wanted to avoid as much as possible and on some days, it was better to just leave the compound. Out of all of them who lived there- Steve, Sam, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton and Scott Lang- it was him and Sam that enjoyed the most freedom. And he could feel the jealousy of some. But it wasn’t _his_ fault that Clint’s wife was furious at him and it wasn’t _his_ fault that the Authorities didn’t trust Wanda.

He was actually happy that they didn’t trust her. He didn’t trust her. Whatever she was selling to Steve, James was not buying it. But she seemed wary of him and so James used that to his advantage when he could. He particularly enjoyed Steve picking his side over hers, even if it was over the most mundane things that didn’t matter such as cupcake flavours.

“Wanda really enjoys coconut flavour so I thought I’d bake a batch for the team.” Steve had said once, wanting to indulge in his favourite cooking-baking-related activity.

But James, petty and bitter, had changed his mind with a few words. “Oh but Steve don’t you remember those banana muffins Mrs. Clarkson made for us after we chased off those bullies for her son? I _loved_ them” James hadn’t but he never told Steve that and now he was glad he did. And so, Steve had made a batch of banana muffins for the rest of the ‘team’ and James had been _delighted_ to see the others suffer as they ate through the banana muffins- no one wanted to disappoint the man famous for his puppy dog eyes.

And if he felt a glare that night coming from a certain witch, well then that wasn’t James’ problem.

Apart from that though, there was **so much anger** in the compound. Clint was angry, depressed and bitter that his wife had divorced him and taken charge of his children- _“You chose them over us, Clint! I had to raise this family on my own whilst you were off breaking international law!”_ \- and that he had been placed on house arrest in the Compound. Scott was bitter and angry that he had _also_ been placed on house arrest and that a ‘Hope Van Dyne’ was refusing to talk to him and his suit had been confiscated for now. Wanda was just angry. She radiated anger and frustration. She also hadn’t been approved to go into the field- something that James was both happy and frustrated about. He was happy to see people rightfully not trust her but it meant she was more cranky than usual.

Then there was Natasha Romanoff. She had said once, _‘You could at least recognize me’,_ and he was sad to say that he did now. He trained her, back in 1998, in the Red Room. It was cruel and he still shook at the what he had done then. Training child assassins just meant more blood on his hands. He had expected her to be cold towards him as she held a careful, stoic look most of the time. But she mostly ignored him and when she didn’t, she spoke in a soft, warm voice in Russian. It was like they had this secret language, tainted by their pasts, but she said she wanted to reclaim this part of her identity and who better to speak Russian with than him?

It was strange, speaking Russian. It felt familiar in a horrifying way but he believed Natasha- reclaiming this part of identity felt strangely nice. Though he was still struggling with the _reason_ why he knew Russian fluently, speaking to the woman in Russian was nice. They never talked about anything deep, meaningful or thoughtful- most of their conversations were held about modern culture and movies mostly. Disney. Internet. Comic books.

Steve was worried at first, but Natasha had given him this _look_ and he had shut up. It was their own little thing and he didn’t know if it helped Natasha, but it helped him. Sam had said it was because he was associating Russian with something new and positive- talking about Disney in Russian was something James thought he’d never do but he trusted Sam enough to not protest. Re-association seemed to be helpful. James would look into that, later.

*

Music was another thing that was helpful. When the voices and the faces became too much for James to handle, listening to music provided a focus and a distraction. He took various recommendation from Steve, Sam and Natasha. Steve had this one playlist that was chock full of 60’s and 80’s music; the man was obsessed with the funk that dominated the 80’s. Sam’s playlists ranged from classical music from ballets to rap. James’ favourite rap was angry rap, angry and fast. Natasha’s was the most surprising. She was a heavy metal gal and introduced James to the world of Metal. It was a bit too much for James but he did write down his favourite one [‘Nothing else matters’ by Metallica].

And so, browsing the internet carefully for musical recommendation, he stumbled upon the world of classic rock. There was _so much_ and he created a long playlist with everything remotely to do with the genre.

It was his go-to playlist when he needed to shut off from the world.

*

Steve, Natasha and Sam came back from a mission involving an ice giant. James had blinked when he heard about the mission goal and laughed; surely they didn’t mean a giant made of ice? But Sam had brought back pictures -blurry and foggy- but one snapshot of a clear view with a giant made of ice made James shut up and pay Sam the one (1) buck they had bet about.

Steve however looked disturbed, angry and maybe a bit sad, if James had to guess, so he took him aside. “You alright?” He asked him.

Steve shook his head, “No. Tony was hit by that giant and I guess Strange must have portal-ed him out of there but when I asked if he was okay, all I got was ‘ _it is none of your business_ ’.” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “And Tony. Tony was so- so- professional?” Steve sighed. James frowned, “But is he alright? He was hit by the giant?”

“Strange assured me that Tony’s not injured and he’s back in his home. But Buck, he was so cold to me” Steve frowned, “And I wish I could get an opportunity where I could talk to him- I just want to clear the air and- and-I don’t know.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes. Steve seemed tired and James guessed that the man would have rings under his eyes if that were possible. “You want his forgiveness?” James guessed carefully. Steve nodded, “I know I don’t deserve it. I didn’t handle anything well, I was so panicked and worried that they would take away our freedom and they would see you as a criminal, I made so many mistakes”

“You did.” James said, “But this is the first time I’m hearing you _really_ talk about this. To be honest, I thought you had it in your head that you were right.”

“I thought I was, God, I really thought I was. But I regret so much. I regret bringing Clint into this, I regret bringing Scott into this. I regret reacting the way I did. I wish I could go back in time to shake myself and stop myself from making those mistakes.” Steve sounded downright _miserable_ and James offered him a hug. Steve wrapped his arms around the other man, burying his head in his neck. “Oh, Buck, things are such a mess. I don’t know what to do. Wanda’s telling me I need to confront Tony but Sam’s telling me I need to wait.” He sighed and the sudden onslaught of emotion staggered James for a second.

“Don’t listen to Wanda, listen to Sam. Sam knows what he’s talking about” James mumbled, “and take a slow breath. You’re getting all worked up.” He took a deep breath and Steve listened, inhaling slowly as well. “Look, the past is what it is. I know exactly what regret and guilt feels like.” He really wanted to comfort Steve and tell him everything would be alright but a sudden burst of anger and guilt welled up in him- he remembered clearly how Steve ‘omitted’ some truths, “And you really fucked up. You fucked up good, Steve, and you’re a damn liar.”

Steve pulled back all of a sudden, frowning. “Buck, I know I lied. But that doesn’t make me a _liar_.”

“Yes, it does. You lied to Tony about his parents. You lied to me about the arc reactor and you’re a _damn_ liar. You were on your way to accepting your mistakes, here are two you made.” James said, trying to sound diplomatic but his voice betrayed his anger.

“I didn’t _lie_ about the arc-“

“Yes, you fuckin’ did!” James snapped, pointing a finger at Steve. “Tony’s got the arc reactor now in his chest again because you- _we_ \- left him in Siberia like that. You lodged your shield in his chest and now he has that thing in his chest and he can’t use his _hands_ properly.”

“Tony has the arc reactor back in his chest? What do you mean, he can’t use his hands properly?” Steve had paled and stepped back, a look of horror on his face. James took slight satisfaction about this but shook it off. He didn’t want to lash out in anger, he wanted Steve to see everything he had done. And then grow from it.

“Yes, yes he does. The frostbite damaged the nerves in his hands, we _left_ him in _Siberia._ And this is why Sam is right, you need to wait. Things are worse than they appear and we did a lot of shit, Steve. You did a lot of shit. If you confront him now, there’s no way he’d listen to you.” James said, slowly calming down now. Or at least tried. “If I were him and you tried to talk to me? I’d fuckin’ _deck_ you. So, you need to wait. Wait and talk to him when _he’s_ ready to talk. He gave me the opportunity to talk and he told me everything. I felt like shit, I still feel like shit. But he’s much better than what Wanda and Clint are telling you- he’s a generous man. And he deserves better.” James said, finally getting his thoughts off of his chest.

Steve stood in front of him, silent. Silent, but nodding along. He looked down but James _swore_ he saw tears forming in Steve’s eyes. And James wasn’t a _complete_ monster, so he took his old best friend into his arms again. “We can go to your room and you can cry in peace and quiet. I’ll be there for you, Steve.” He offered and Steve nodded meekly.

James led them to Steve’s bedroom- almost as empty as James’- and let Steve lay down on the bed. He sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulders. “You can cry all you want. Get it out. You have to confront all of your mistakes, you do, but one at a time. If you take all of them at once, it’ll be overwhelming.”

Steve cried and cried that night and it was the first night since their reunion that James felt more connected to the man. They held each other as Steve cried and sobbed about the mistakes he did. James didn’t offer any words that everything would be alright, but instead offered advice on how Steve could grow to accept his mistakes and work on redemption.

It was nice.

*

After that night, James had felt guilt well up in him again. The nightmare he had that night had been the worst one so far- _every single mission- every single person_. He tore himself out of the dream, sitting up in his bed with tears blurring his vision. “Fuck” He gasped, shaking and stood up quickly, pacing around the room. Tears slipped down his face as he closed his eyes, but the faces were still there. A man with blonde hair and blue eyes- a woman with green eyes and a scar on her cheek- a _child_ holding her parent’s hands- an elderly man with fear in his eyes and begging on his knees- James couldn’t take it.

The guilt of having every single memory of these people- missions, HYDRA had called them- were still burnt into his brain.

 It wasn’t his best idea, but he felt he needed to do _something_ to confront his past as mass murderer. He enlisted Natasha’s help, mainly because she knew what it felt like, and started collecting information on the people he killed. All he knew about these people was the _reason_ HYDRA had wanted them dead but he wanted to ‘flesh them out as people’ [Natasha’s words] so he could build more than just faces and pleas of mercy.

And so, he started with the first person he had killed as Winter Soldier. A 25 year old man named Sasha Gennadius Ignatov who had stolen HYDRA secrets and planned to expose them- 23.6.1947 He had been the caretaker of his sickly mother, Evgeniya Olenka Ignatov. He had a black cat named Zvezda, which meant ‘Star’, and had never travelled outside of Russia. He had a lot of friends before he started taking care of his mother, but got involved with some HYDRA agents when he was looking for a job and discovered their plans to start what would be known as ‘the Cold war’ with America and didn’t want to see his country in war again. Sasha had loved Tolstoy. That information was included in the file he recovered with Natasha.

That night, he cried for Sasha and Evgeniya, who died after her son’s assassination.

*

It had been three weeks since James left Tony’s workshop. He completely understood that building an arm would not be done overnight or even over the course of two days. Living with just one arm was tiresome. He could still sometimes feel his left arm, a phantom feeling, and it was a fleeting feeling. Sometimes he wanted to reach something with his left hand but there was nothing- absolutely nothing.

So far, only Natasha and Steve caught him at those times. James was pretty proud of the fact that he had been avoiding Wanda, Clint and Scott- and their _annoying_ chatter- but Steve _did_ see him reach for his glass of water when he had been reading. There was this torn look on Steve’s face, as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or look pitying. James doesn’t think Steve _means_ it and actually means to look sympathetically, but the only one who never looked at him pityingly had been Sam- and Tony.

And honestly, receiving pitying looks from Steve was enough to ruin James’ days. He didn’t think he deserved those pity looks nor did he _want_ them. What was worst were the other Rogues. Since James was without his left arm now, the others thought they were entitled to try and talk to him.

That was the _last_ thing James wanted. Wanda, for example, caught him one night and tried to talk to him. “It must be so tough to live with only one arm. I can’t believe-well, I can- that Stark is taking _so long_ with working on a new arm!” She had said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking pitying at him.

“Speak to me again, and you’ll realize what it’s like to live with only one arm” was all James had replied to her.

Wanda, of course, went snitching to Stevie.

What a bitch.

“Buck, you can’t go around threatening other members of the team!” Steve said, putting his hands on his hips, looking like a damn _parent_. But if Wanda thought she had Steve on her side, she had another thing coming.

“But _Stevie_ , she caught me off-guard and she had her _red fingers_ ” James clenched his fist, looking down then up at Steve with wide, sad eyes. Steve had dropped his hands and enveloped his best friend in a tight hug. “Oh _Buck_ , I’m so sorry”

It was all James had that got him through these days.

Then, of course, his day got infinitely better when his phone rang.

“Hello?” He answered the unknown number.

“Jimothy! I have great news! I have your arm ready to assemble and attach to your shoulder!” Tony’s voice rang clear through the phone and he sounded so _excited_ that James couldn’t help but smile in anticipation. He knew Tony was a certified genius but there was something refreshing about his excitement over building James an arm that left James feeling light-headed.

“That’s great! When can I-“

“When can you-“

The two tried to say at the same time. James stopped and chuckled softly, hearing Tony laugh softly in reply. “When can you come by?” Tony finally asked.

“I can come as soon as you want me” James said, biting his lip. He was eager to get his left arm back.

“Oh, well then, Jimothy! Come over now?”

“I’d love to. I’ll be there in half an hour or so” James grinned and the two said their goodbyes. He got changed quickly, fumbling with his clothes as he tried to dress as quick as possible but wasn’t quite elegant with only one hand. He pulled on his jacket on his way out, texting Steve quickly and moved to the front door of the building.

An agent of SHIELD stood there, waiting. “Hi, I’m going over to Tony Stark’s” He said and the agent moved to open the door, letting James out. He mumbled something into his earpiece- ‘Barnes moving out to Stark’s. Transport standing by’- and motioned for James to go to the first black SUV that was parked in front of the building then closed the door.

If they tried for subtlety, then they failed, James thought. Nevertheless, he opened the door to the SUV and climbed into the backseat.

“Stark Towers, please” James smiled at the driver who nodded and started the car then peeled out of the compound.

He couldn’t wait to see Tony again- and get his arm back.  


	3. A Sort of Enlightenment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Expected results leave James with unexpected realisations and when he goes back to the Compound, he has no time for the Rogue Avengers' Complaints.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a biit longer than I aimed for but I really enjoyed writing it! This is the beginning of the redemption arcs I'm planning. This chapter is more James-focused but next chapter will be more WinterIron :D

_“But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.”_ _  
Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake_

Walking into the lobby of the Tower, a teen with determined eyes and arms crossed over his chest and Rhodey in his wheelchair were waiting. Waiting, it appeared, for James.

“Tony called me, he said he had a new arm ready for me?” James said tentatively; he wanted to make sure he wasn’t showing up unannounced to Tony’s home.

“We know” The teen said and James looked at him with a frown, that voice sounded familiar. The teen also looked achingly _young_ so James looked back at Rhodey. “I’m really sorry about what happened at that airport.” He offered his condolences but Rhodey waved his hand, “Not your fault, but thank you. Tony _is_ awaiting you in his workshop but we wanted to catch you first.”

“What can I help you with?”

“We just want to make sure you won’t try anything to bother Tony with Rogers” The teen said quickly, a certain tone of insecurity but Rhodey placed a hand on the teen’s arm. “Peter” He said calmly but looked at James, “We know that Rogers wants to talk to Tony and given his _actions_ in the past, we want to make sure that he will respect Tony’s wishes”

James nodded, “I completely agree. Steve’s talked to me about wanting to talk to Tony but both Sam and I told him to wait. The Witch has been nagging Steve to confront Tony” James rolled his eyes at the memory of her sweet-talkin’ his best friend, “But Sam and I got through him first. He said he’ll wait until Tony’s ready. Was quite a bit dramatic about it” He offered to the two men with a weak smile.

Rhodey looked at him and smiled, “Good to hear that you and Sam see reason. How is Sam doing these days?” He turned his wheelchair around and started rolling towards the elevators, James and Peter following him on either side.

“He’s doing okay. Keeping busy, mostly.” James said, thinking about what to say. Sam _was_ doing okay; he was also back at being a counsellor, mostly for James. But he didn’t want to say that just yet.

“Tell him I asked about him.” Rhodey grinned and the three of them went into the elevator.

Peter turned to James, now with a proud smile, “I helped design your arm”

“You must be a genius then. I couldn’t even imagine where you’d start at a design like that”

Peter stood up just a bit straighter then, grinning proudly to himself. This kid was something else, James thought.

Tony Stark was flitting around the Workshop, assembling various pieces of -what James guessed- his new arm. “Tony!” Rhodey called out, wheeling into the workshop with a fond smile on his face. “Look who we caught out in the lobby” He chuckled and looked up at James but James was too busy watching Tony move around with focus and determination in his moves.

The technology was mesmerizing as well.

Tony turned around and smiled at the three men in his workshop. “Welcome, Jimothy.” He greeted James and looked at Peter, “Can you help me carry these parts to the main desk. We’re assembling your arm as we’re putting on you.” Tony explained, turning to James for the last part. Peter nodded, moving to help Tony.

“Thank you” James smiled. Rhodey grinned and wheeled over to the main desk with James. “Sit down on that chair.” Tony instructed James and so James found himself sitting next to ‘the main desk’ with Tony and Peter preparing to assemble the new arm. It resembled the arm that Shuri had given him; sleek black material with golden lines. A golden star on what he assumed to be the shoulder part.

Tony caught James staring the pieces and smiled, eager to explain. “T’Challa heard of what happened with your arm and he contacted me. I told him I was building you an arm and I swear to god his sister, Shuri, just took the call and we started talking about all the wonderful ways we could design your arm. Remember I showed you these plans? She helped me improve them, so did Peter, and she sent over some vibranium yesterday for me to build with.” He beamed, talking excitedly. James smiled softly, watching Tony lift up several pieces and explaining.

Peter nodded, “Shuri is an absolute legend” he smiled and Tony nodded absently. “Jimothy, if you will, we’re gonna need you to take off your shirt.” He turned to James.

James hesitated but nodded. It’s not like he was ashamed of his body- he knew he was attractive and he can appreciate his muscled body for what it was- but his left shoulder was marred with ugly scars from when HYDRA had operated on him. Slowly, he lifted his t shirt and in one swift movement took it off. Peter gave him a weak smile but it was Tony’s reaction that caught him off-guard.

Shuri and the other scientists had replaced all of his shoulder with their new tech so there was no hint of ancient HYDRA tech. “it’s beautiful” Tony mumbled then looked up at James who looked back at him with confusion and embarrassment.

“It’s not beautiful” James shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. Tony shook his head, “It is. Your shoulder is so high tech, it is a work of art. It’s a shame those minions blasted it off.” He said and together with Peter, they started assembling the new arm.

“Your scars are nothing to be ashamed off, either.” Tony mumbled at one moment, standing on the other side of the desk, helping Peter combine the various parts.

It didn’t take as long as James thought it would but it also wasn’t short. He watched with amazement as the two men melded [Tony], combined [Tony and Peter] and assembled [Peter] his new arm. There was nothing new or fancy about it until they reached his wrist and Peter jumped up gleefully.

“So, we know you love fighting with knives and so I had this idea where you could hide a knife _inside_ your wrist and with a flick of your wrist, it would extend into the palm of your hand and you have a _surprise knife_!” Peter explained, his words tumbling over each other as he explained with excitement.

James caught about half of that but nodded, eager to have more knives on him, especially if he could hide them. Tony grinned, and the two finished. The process felt weird, he couldn’t feel anything until it was fully assembled and the two men stepped away. The feeling of his arm, his wrist, his fingers invaded his brain and he inhaled sharply, clenching his new vibranium hand. “This” James mumbled then looked up, “is amazing” He smiled brightly and Tony couldn’t help but think that a Smiling James was absolutely beautiful.

“Thank you! This was so much fun!” Peter smiled happily, “Thank you so much for letting me participate in this, Mr. Stark” He turned to Tony who rolled his eyes half-heartedly. “Pete, you know you can call me Tony. And of course, there’s none other I would trust something this important to” Tony smiled back at the teen, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Really? Thanks, Mr- Tony” Peter’s cheeks reddened a bit but his smile didn’t waver.

It was heart-warming to see and James felt almost like an invader but the two turned back to him, eager to see him use the arm. “Try the knife thing!” Peter grinned. James stood up, putting his shirt back on. He flexed his left arm, regaining the feeling of having two arms. “What did you say again, flick my wrist?” James mumbled and flicked his wrist backwards and a knife flipped out, the blade extending past the palm of his hand. The handle was still inside James’ arm and he stared at it with a grin.

“If you want to take the knife out, you just need to fully extend your hand back and spread your fingers like this-“ Peter demonstrated, flicking his wrist back and spreading his hand out, “But if you don’t, then just flicking it will do. You can also throw it!”

“I love the way you think, kid” James grinned wolfishly, trying out the different movements of his arm. “Tony, thank you so much.” He turned back to Tony who was watching him with a small smile.

“Again, it was the least I could do. I’m glad you enjoy your new arm.” Tony smiled and James smiled back at him. The warmth of Tony’s smile still surprised James and the lack of malice comforted him. There was no anger or fear in Tony’s stance and it relaxed James; being outside of the Avengers Compound is not only refreshing because of Tony but because of this atmosphere of _excitement_.

He can’t remember the last time he felt this atmosphere of excitement with others.

*

By the time they finished, Pepper had arrived and was talking with Rhodey in the penthouse. It was also lunch time and while James wasn’t particularly hungry, Peter was _starving_ and if there was one weakness to Tony, it was Peter.

While James was preparing to leave, Peter suddenly turned around to the former Winter Solider with a bright smile, “Why don’t you stay for lunch? Pepper and I are cooking Chicken Tikka Masala! It’s so good.”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude, I’m sure you guys don’t want me to join you for lunch.” James declined. _It was one thing for Tony to build an arm for the murderer of his parents- but to eat lunch with him?_ James thought miserably.

“Nonsense.” Was what Tony said instead, “it would be rude otherwise. And really, Pepper’s cooking is not to be missed out on. I’m sure that Junior here only visits me at lunchtime to eat Pepper’s food.” Tony teased and the teen turned around with an unceremonious, “Mr. Stark- Tony- I would never!- I love coming here- To say that-“ to which Tony laughed and calmed the teen down, “I’m only joking!”

James smiled at the two men and decided to stay. Really, it would be rude to reject food. And his mother didn’t raise a rude boy.

Pepper stood up when they came in the room, sizing James up. She narrowed her eyes at him, standing tall in front of him. It was like James forgot how to breathe with the icy stare she gave him. “Welcome, James. You can help cook.” She suddenly said and smiled at him, turning around and walking to the kitchen. Peter followed her wordlessly and Rhodey wheeled into the kitchen to watch them.

Tony put a hand on James’ right shoulder and offered a grin, “Pep’s a protective one. She’s fine though if you do help her cook. Go on.” The two walked into the kitchen.

“It’s been a long time since I cooked” James warned Pepper who waved her hands, “That doesn’t matter. You can cut the chicken and season it. Peter will help you. I’ll make the sauce and cook the rice. I’ve seen your skills with knives- Peter’s always raving about knives- you can cut chicken.” Pepper grinned at him and laughed.

Peter groaned, “I don’t _rave_ about his knives” but said nothing else. James bit his lip, grinning. He liked Pepper; she held this power to her eyes but sharp wit on her tongue. He could respect that.

Tony helped Rhodey onto one of the chairs behind the kitchen island and settled next to him, watching James and Peter cut the chicken.

“So, kid, you been ravin’ about my knife skills?” James teased the young teen who looked up at him. “No- I mean yes- I mean, you’re on youtube, so.” Peter replied as if James would know what that meant. He looked up at Tony and Rhodey for help who just grinned back at him.

“Youtube?” James asked slowly, cutting the chicken into small pieces. “Yeah, it’s a website full of videos. A platform. There’s videos of you fighting with knives. It’s pretty cool.” Peter explained, watching him cut the chicken.

“Huh. I’ll check that out.” James mumbled but he felt his heart sink- a website with footage of him? That sounded terrible. Terrible. He wondered how anyone could stand to be around him.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s two types of people out there. Those who don’t like you- I mean, _really_  don’t like you-“

 “Peter-“ Tony tried to interrupt Peter but the teen kept going.

“And then there’s others who _absolutely love you_. Mostly because you look really cool.” Peter finished.

James gripped the knife just a bit tighter, burying the onslaught of _‘you’re a mass murderer’ ‘an absolute destruction to humanity’ ‘you don’t deserve this’_ and tried to focus on cutting the chicken.

“Public opinion has always been divided.” Tony carefully said, “Even before we were officially known as the Avengers, people either hate or love us. There’s no in between. Look at Natasha- her entire past is laid out on the internet and she gets a lot of hate but she also gets a lot of love.” It was clear that Tony only said this to try and soothe James.

James sighed, trying to relax to get the tension out of his back, “Natasha told me about that. She ‘leaked’ SHIELD’s information as well and people were not happy.”

“No, people weren’t. She did a lot of bad stuff in her past but she also has done a lot of good. She defended New York City against countless threats and she’s a changed woman. Regardless of my personal history with her.” Tony said.

“Okay, this is clearly only going down one road. Topic change.” Rhodey sighed and turned to James, “Are you a sports fan?”

“Sports?” James asked, “I don’t know. Back when I was a teen, I liked to play football with the other kids. I was really good at sports. I didn’t watch many sports growing up, though” He joked and the room fell silent for a second before Tony and Peter laughed. Rhodey looked at him and grinned. Pepper chuckled but didn’t say anything, focused on the sauce.

“Good one” Tony smiled, “You know, I participated in race car driving.”

“You were dying, too.” Pepper said with a distinct disapproving tone.

“And you were being attacked.” Rhodey added, looking unamused.

Tony nodded, “That was such a fun vacation. I haven’t been back to Monaco since, maybe we should head there for a little weekend trip. Speaking of weekends, Peter, how’s your project going?”

“How did that equate in your mind from weekend to school.” Peter groaned and sighed, “It’s going okay, I guess. My lab partner is being lazy though.”

The domesticity of all of this shocked James and yet it felt _so nice_ to be there. After cutting the chicken, they seasoned it in various spices. Peter had an amazing memory and remembered which ones came in which order. James stood aside, letting Peter season the chicken.

“This is really nice.” James mumbled, watching Peter. He felt tired but he also felt relaxed.

“What do you guys eat at the compound? Do you guys do like group meals or everyone for themselves?” Peter asked curiously.

James scoffed, “I’d rather be dead than have a group meal with them.”

All he got in return though were stares. “What?” James asked with raised eyebrows.

“Nothing.” Peter mumbled, turning back to the chicken. Rhodey and Tony looked at James with confusion though. “It’s just- isn’t Rogers your best friend?” “And Sam?”

James shrugged, “Yeah. But there are others at the Compound I wish I could avoid forever. Look, Sam’s great. Steve’s-“ He sighed. He didn’t want to talk bad about Steve, _his best friend_ , but it would be so easy to confide in these people, who invited him to lunch. “Steve’s something else. Maximoff, though. I don’t trust her.” He settled on saying.

Rhodey nodded, “I don’t trust her either. What about the others? Barton, Lang, Romanoff?”

“Don’t really talk to them. I do talk to Natasha but still” James shrugged, “I usually eat with Sam or Steve. Or I go out into the city. New York is so different from what I remember. It’s better and yet worse”

“Are you from Brooklyn, too?” Peter asked him. James nodded, “Born and raised. I still go back and recognise some things. But other things are unrecognisable. Times Square for example. It’s so different”

“Good different or bad different?” Peter asked, finishing off the seasoning.

“Good different. It’s modern and there’s so much to do. It used to be so boring.”

*

After cooking the chicken, Pepper combined the chicken with the sauce and boiled the pain. “Go set the table.” She instructed Peter, Tony, Rhodey and James. The four men set the table with plates, cutlery and glasses. Tony helped Pepper carry the food over and settled the pot with the chicken and sauce in the middle and placed the bowl of rice next to it.

Eating with this small family, James talked more than he had in days. Of course, he talked with Sam, Steve and Natasha, but the conversation between these peoples was _untainted._ They spoke with no awkwardness or hesitation and it felt freeing.

Peter made James laugh a couple of times, the sassy teenager was such a genius but he held this youthful quality to him that was carefree and funny that James _yearned_ to be young again.

It was also this time that James really noticed the damage that Tony had suffered from Siberia. It wasn’t like James was blind- but before, when they had worked on his arm, Tony had moved like a fish in water. Tony was truly an engineer at heart and he had held his tools with such familiarity, that the limited mobility of his fingers wasn’t as noticeable. The glow under his shirt was an ever-steady presence that James couldn’t stop noticing.

But eating, James noticed that Tony had engineered special cutlery for himself. He couldn’t stop looking away, even when Tony caught him staring. Before Tony could take insult, James quickly said, “Did you design that? It seems to work really well.”

Tony smiled, chewing on the delicious food they had cooked. “Yeah, I did. I also published the designs and Stark Industries has been making waves in that industry. I mean my fingers aren’t as bad as they could be but this gave me the new idea to work on new assistance for disabled. That, and working on your arm was really inspiring. Bionic limbs for the public however is still a slow process so Pepper and I have been trying to get SI to become more involved.” He explained with a proud smile. “I’m working on these crutches that are purely attached to the legs for Rhodes. They’re still in production but I think they’ll really help.”

Rhodey grinned, “Thanks, Tones.”

“Of course, honey bear.”

*

Coming back to the Compound was much worse this time around. After their meal, James had helped clean up and wash dishes. Peter hugged him goodbye, fingers lingering on his arm with beaming eyes. “So cool.”

Tony had hugged him too and James had savoured that feeling, hugging him back tightly. Rhodey and Pepper had shaken his hand in goodbye. It was nice.

As soon as he was back in the compound, his mood sank. All of the Rogue Avengers were sitting together in the living room, which in itself was weird, but the _atmosphere_ was crackling. Probably Wanda’s powers.

“What’s up?” James called out and Sam looked up with relief on his face. “Bucky! Buck, tell them they’re being idiots. Downright imbeciles.” Sam stood up, walking over. “Oh my, that’s your new arm? Nice. Tell Stark he did a _nice_ job” Sam admired James’ new arm.

“That reminds me, Rhodey says hi. He asked about you.” James smiled, clasping Sam’s arm. Sam nodded with a small smile, “Really? Wow. Nice. I’ll uh- try and call him later.”

“What are they being idiots about, then?” James asked, looking over to the others. Steve was standing in front of the others who were sat on the couch, hands on his hips. Wanda was glaring fiercely at the ground, Clint was hunched over with frustration written in his body language, Lang had a pale face and Natasha was neutral as ever.

“They’re getting ‘tired’ of Tony’s ‘treatment’ apparently.” Sam rolled his eyes and the two walked back. “What do you mean, how is Tony treating you?” James raised an eyebrow at the group.

Wanda stood up, “Tony’s punishing us by making us stay here! I want to go back to my room and I want to know where Vision!” She had her long hair tied back in a tight ponytail, fists balled and an angry look on her face.

James tried _hard_ not to roll his eyes. He did. “How is this a punishment? At least you have a roof over your head.” Was what he replied. Steve sighed, “Wanda, if Vision wants to contact you, I’m sure he would. He’s more powerful than any of us, I doubt Tony has him under lock.”

“You think Tony’s got Vision under _arrest_? Because there’s no other explanation as to why  he’s not contacting you, right?” Sam said with sarcasm in his voice. Wanda was not amused however and continued, “He tried to keep me under arrest! I’m sure he would do it to Vision as well!”

“Let’s just say that Tony would be so dumb as to try that with Vision- How did that end when he tried that with you? Vision can _phase_ through walls” Sam scoffed.

“Vision isn’t even in the tower. He’s not with Tony.” James shrugged. “Oh yeah, because _you’re_ the chosen one. _You_ get to go home.” Wanda spat with venom in her tone. James rolled his eyes now, crossing his arms over his chest to look more threatening. He knew how he looked when he was angry and he used it to his advantage. “First you were mad that Tony was too slow in building an arm for me and now you’re mad that he even let me in? Make up your mind, witch.”

Wanda glared at him, clenching her fists. James knew that Wanda was probably trying hard not to use her powers. He also knew that if Wanda did, Steve would take James’ side. And that was something Wanda couldn’t risk.

Clint stood up now, “I just think that Tony should talk to us. It’s been a year! How mad could he still be?” He looked at Steve then at James, “He forgave you, why can’t he forgive us? Or forgive Steve?”

James clenched his jaw and walked closer to Clint, “He chose to forgive me. That’s his decision to make. It’s also his decision to make when -if- he forgives Steve or the rest of you. I know Steve knows he fucked up and is sorry about it but what about you, Clint? Are you even sorry about what happened? And you, _Witch_ , are you even sorry about anything you did? Ever? You think you’re right and Tony should forgive you because what? Why should he forgive you?”

“My _name_ is Wanda.” the witch hissed but didn’t say anything else.

“And _my_ name is _James_. But the difference between you and me is that I didn’t want any of this. You did. The difference is that you aren’t sorry and I am. I see the people I killed in my head _every day._ I see everything and I feel the world- I feel the past _every day_. Do you even feel any remorse?!” He didn’t mean to shout, not really but the Witch really got to his nerves.

The Witch glared at him, “Of course I do. My brother died for him-“ She pointed at Clint, “and there’s not a day that goes by that I wish I had done things differently!”

“What things? Join Hydra?”

“You don’t know _anything_ about me!” Wanda burst out, tears in her eyes. “You have no idea what’s it was like growing up where I did! I lost my parents when I was 10! Sokovia was a warzone! I didn’t have a choice, not _really!_ "

"I grew up in the Great Depression. I had three younger siblings, they all died before the war even started. I understand completely. You _did_ have a choice. You decided to join experimentation. I was experimented on and I had no choice.” James said, his voice tight with anger, guilt and _sorrow_. “But this isn’t a competition.” He said after a few seconds. “This isn’t a competition of who suffered more. We all have. We _all_ have.” James looked around the room and shook his head, “You’d think you’d be better at understanding other people’s pasts but all you do is judge.”

“Buck, we don’t judge you-“ Steve started but James interrupted him, "I don’t mean _me_ Steve. And I thank God that you don’t judge me but what I meant is _them_ judging Tony. You don’t understand the full extent of his injures, and how could you? He doesn’t want you to know. But demanding he forgives you without even _talking_ to him makes no sense.” James sighed, shaking his head.

“I’m tired of this…this _anger_ you guys have. You think you’re justified and I honestly don’t even know why.” James left the room before anyone else could say anything. Frustrated, and desperate to take it out on something other than Steve’s face, he headed to the training room.

*

An hour later, James was still in the training room, his hair pulled back into a bun. He was taking out his bitter anger on a punching bag when Clint entered the room.

“Barnes!” He shouted and James stopped, holding the punching bag in place. “What?”

“Let’s spar,” Clint offered, “I want to talk to you.”

“Are you sure you want to spar with me?” James grinned slyly, “you can barely spar with Natasha and _she_ goes easy  on you.”

Clint only said, “Please.”

“Fine.” James walked over to the middle of the room. The gym was big with various machines and other things James didn’t recognise. The two men entered the boxing ring, circling each other.

“What do you want to talk about?” James asked as the two started moving around each other. James held his metal arm behind his back, knowing it would be unfair if he used it against Clint.

“What you said earlier. You don’t understand why we- I – feel angry,” Clint said, moving to punch James in the side but James moved swiftly away. “I’m pretty sure I do.” James let  hint of sarcasm enter his voice and shrugged, “It’s just I don’t think you have any reason to be angry. You made your choices, you can’t be mad there are repercussions.”

“I was retired, you know. Retired, living happy with my family on the farm. My beautiful wife, Laura, had just had our third child, Nathaniel, named after Nat. It was perfect and I was _so_ happy.” Clint said, his voice nostalgic and edged with melancholy.

“Go on.” James said, moving to punch Clint lightly in his side.

Clint dodged him easily. “And then Cap. He comes in, pleading voice. Apparently, our freedom is at stake. My freedom. My freedom to keep my family a secret- to keep them away from threat and out of the spotlight. Off the records.” He sighed, throwing his fist out but James dodged it lightly.

“What was I supposed to do? Stand by while my family was being threatened? Of course not! I did what I thought was right- I came back with Steve to defend my freedom, my family’s freedom. And then I saw what was happening. Tony and Steve. Stark versus Rogers. It was like always, those two butting heads,” Clint shook his head, “that should have been the first sign.”

“And then the fight at the airport. Fighting against Natasha.” Clint shook his head, “second mistake. I remember so clearly that I couldn’t understand- why wasn’t she on our side? On the **_right_** side.” Clint frowned angrily, punching with full power against James’ shoulder. James let him, barely feeling it.

“The raft. Imprisoned. Fugitives. Couldn’t they _see_ that we were right?” Clint huffed, “And suddenly I was this criminal. I was a maniac. Back when I was a child, I was with this circus. Turned criminal. I had promised myself I would never be one again and here I was- a _criminal!_ ” Clint yelled, punching in on James.

James caught his hands, twisting them easily upward, “Clint!”

Clint sighed, giving up. “And it turns out _I_ had been wrong. I had been in the wrong the whole time- because I followed Captain America. I left my family behind because I thought that I was protecting them. Turns out, I was just hurting them. And I feel so _angry_ all the time. I wish I had never left.”

“I understand why you are angry, Clint.” James said quietly, “But I don’t understand why you are so against Tony.”

“He forgives you, the murderer of his parents. I understand why he doesn’t forgive Steve or Wanda. But-”

“-You don’t understand why he won’t forgive you.”

James released Clint’s hands and the two stepped away from each other.

“Look, I know Wanda is a loose canon. I know her powers are scary- I was subjected to Loki and he controlled _everything_ I did. I still dream about it. But Wanda isn’t _evil_. She joined Hydra, I know, but she didn’t do it because she _agreed_ with Hydra or because she wanted to commit genocide. I’m not apologising for what she’s done but Wanda has potential. She could do so much good.” Clint sighed.

“That’s not why I wanted to talk to you, though. I wanted to talk to you because I’m-” He sighed again. He really didn’t want to admit this, “I’m jealous. I’m jealous of you. You can come and go, you can go see Tony. Tony forgave you. My wife divorced me and I haven’t seen my kids in a year. I know I deserve punishment, there’s no excuse for what I’ve done. I participated. This isn’t how I wanted my life to be.”

Clint stepped back from James and shrugged, “Anger is the easiest emotion to turn to. It’s easy to succumb to anger and maybe I’ve fooled myself for too long. But it was so easy.” He said quietly. “You don’t need to say anything, I just wanted to give you something to think about. To make you understand.”

And with that, Clint left the training room and James behind. James sighed, sitting down on the floor of the boxing ring and put his head in his hands.

What a messed up couple of people.


	4. Smile of a Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Tony meet again and Updated Doom-bots try to invade New York City. Just an average day for James, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More WinterIron- next chapter will be more focused on Tony!  
> Thank you for all of the kudos and comments, I love getting feedback like any fic writer and the reaction has been so positive!! Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this chapter :D

  _“A cold word from a cold man sends shivers throughout my body but my heart remains warm”_

Sonya Watson, The Tide Breaker

_“Nobody enjoys the company of others as intensely as someone who usually avoids the company of others.”_

Mokokoma Mokhonoana 

 

The morning after the talk with Clint, James left the Compound. He didn’t want to see anyone and he _definitely_ didn’t want anyone else to come to him to talk more about their feelings. One talk a week was enough for him, thank you very much.

Sliding his phone into his jacket, he walked out of the driveway and headed to the city. He _could_ take a car but then he would have to give a specific address and he only knew one address by heart and he didn’t want to show up unannounced.

The Compound was surrounded by a thick forest. The air was so different from when he had lived in the city in the 1930’s- the air was crisp, fresh and clean. Even when he went into the city these days, the air wasn’t as fresh as when James stood in the forest. The scenery was absolutely beautiful to James and he walked alongside the street, taking his time. He wasn’t heading anywhere particularly, just headed to the city.

It took him longer than usual but he did make it to the City eventually. Due to his sunglasses and cap, people didn’t recognise him. It was nice, to move around between crowds of people and going unnoticed. He went to the heart of NYC first, to Times Square. Sitting down on the Red Steps and leaned back. Looking at all of the screens on buildings, he couldn’t help but feel humbled. Technology was so fascinating to him and he barely understood how everything worked.

It was then that his phone buzzed impatiently in his pocket and he pulled it out, with a sigh. Steve’s face appeared on the screen with a dumb smile. James had taken the picture in the middle of Steve cooking.

_“You can make your phone tell you who is calling. You take a picture of them and put it in your contacts. It’s amazing!” Steve had said so James had pulled his phone out and pointed at Steve. “Smile.” James mumbled and Steve had grimaced, closing his eyes and smiling wide. It was a dumb face but it was a familiar dumb face and James had laughed then._

He answered the phone, “What’s goin’, Steve?”

“Hey, Buck. Where are you? I wanted to work out with you!” Steve’s voice came through the speaker just a bit too loud.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Stevie. I just wanted to catch some fresh air so I went into the city. I’ll be back later, though, okay?”

“Alright, Bucky. But come back, I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah, of course. Where else would I go? Bye.” James pressed the bright red button on his phone and sighed. That didn’t sound good; Steve _needing_ to talk to him? _Maybe he wants to talk more about the past_ , James thought miserably, _And he can only talk to you._

Not that he wouldn’t be there for his best friend, of course he would. But really, if Steve needed counselling he should go to Sam, the certified counsellor. All Bucky could offer was bitter sarcasm and half-thought through advice he heard himself.

He was deep in his thoughts when his phone buzzed again. He looked down, no picture but the words ‘TONY STARK’ appeared and he smiled. He pressed the green button and put the phone to his head.

“Hello?”

“Jimothy! How are you?” Tony’s bright voice came through the phone and James couldn’t help but smile a bit wider.

“Oh, you know. Sitting in Times Square, as one does on the usual Wednesday morning”

“Perfect, you’re not far away from the Tower! Peter and I were thinking about your arm again, why don’t you come over and we can show you some designs?”

“Aw, you’ve been thinking about me?” James grinned, standing up and started to walk in the direction of Stark Towers.

“Sweetie, when am I _not_ thinking about you?” Tony’s voice replied and James stopped walking, his heart skipping quickly. His smile turned more sheepish and he was glad Tony couldn’t see his face. He could _feel_ himself becoming red.

He didn’t know what to say to that and Tony just chuckled a bit over the phone, “No, I’m serious, come over and we can show you some cool designs.”

“I’m on my way” James mumbled and the phone ended. He couldn’t stop smiling all the way over to the Tower.

*

This time around, there was no one waiting for him in the lobby. Instead, there was security who stopped him before he could reach the elevator. Two beefy men stood in front of him and although his instinct would have been to knock them both over, he didn’t.

“Are you a-uh-“ The man on the left looked down at the clipboard he was holding, “James Barnes?”

“Yeah, that’s me. Tony called me and told me to come over.”

“He did. You got any ID on you?” The man on the left asked and James was tempted to flash his arm, but he pulled out his wallet. SHIELD and the Accords Council had given him an ID Card for access purposes so he showed this ID to them. He took off his sunglasses and cap so they could see his face and check with the ID.

“Okay, you can go through.” The first man nodded and James walked past them and to the elevator. Stepping into the elevator, he pressed the basement button, going down to the workshop.

Entering the workshop, there was a certain element of chaos that hadn’t been there before. Papers were piling up on desks, there were at least three mugs near Tony and there was no Peter in sight.

Tony was absolutely no different than last time. Standing over blueprints and plans, he didn’t notice James walking in, back turned to him.

“Tony? Uh-hey, I’m here” James said slowly, not wanting to scare the man. Tony, however, turned around and leant back against the desk.

“Hey there!” Tony smiled at him, an excited vibe around him. James missed this, contrasting against the dullness of the compound.

“Hi” James smiled back, coming to stand in front of him.

 “We re-figured some things in your arm. If you’d let me look at it again, I could make it just a bit smoother? I’m sure it’s smooth now, but I realized there was a slight hitch in the designs- really, how I _didn’t_ notice before hand, I don’t know- and so I just want to make sure everything’s good.” Tony spoke and James nodded thoughtlessly.

He trusted Tony unconditionally with his arm, he had shown that he was trustworthy. James didn’t place his trust in anyone easily but the man in front of him was so different from everyone he had met at the Compound. Different from the cold anger that Clint held, different from the anger and pity Wanda held for herself, different from the cold absence of anger of Lang. Of course this didn’t mean that James didn’t trust Sam or Steve, he did, but Tony had been so easy to just sit next to, without any expectation.

He sat back down on the chair, “Do you need me to take my shirt off?”

Tony grinned, “Yes. Utmost important.”

“Where is Peter? Doesn’t he do the-“ James motioned to the arm, not knowing how to describe what _exactly_ Peter did. “The fine tune?” He ended up saying.

“He would, but he has homework so I sent him away to do it. Meanwhile, I designed these little gadgets to help me do that.” Tony grinned, holding up two gloves made of- shiny material James didn’t know the name of- that were blinking slowly. “Friday, are you set up?”

“ _Yes, sir, on stand-by to help with the gloves. Mark Four, activate”_ The female voice announced and James looked up at the ceiling with amazement.

Tony slid his hands into the gloves and smiled amusedly at James, “She’s not in the ceiling.”

“Where is she?”

 _“I am everywhere.”_ Friday announced and James swore if a voice could smile without a face, it did.

“Friday, don’t scare the man. She’s not _everywhere_ but almost.” Tony grinned and turned back to James who was staring at the ceiling. “Are you okay?”

“Ye-yeah.” James mumbled and took his jacket off, then his long-sleeved shirt. “It’s just amazing what you can do, Tony. I can’t even begin to understand how this all works.” He said, looking at the genius in front of him.

Tony shrugged, looking down at James’ arm. “It’s nothing, really. What’s an AI at my age?”

“I don’t know but it’s really amazing.” James said with a small smile.

“Thank you.” Tony looked back up, returning his smile.

*

“How is it, living at the Compound?” Tony asked, hunched over James’ arm. He had a look of concentration on his face and James felt like a _slight_ creep for watching him. But in his defence, the man was hunched over _his_ arm, so really.

“I shouldn’t complain, I’m lucky to live here and I’m grateful for everything.” James said slowly, looking down at his open arm.

“Yeah, but how is it living with the others? You said last time you don’t trust some people and living with people you don’t trust is never fun. Trust me.” Tony said quietly, the concentration never wavering.

“Speak from experience?”

“Maybe. Don’t dodge the question, though. I’m curious to know. I’m a curious guy.” Tony smiled a bit and James smiled too. Tony _was_ a curious person, James knew that much.

“Well, I mean. Living with the others have its high points and bad points, I guess. Sam’s been a treasure. So has Steve, I guess. Though-“ James sighed, thinking of how to phrase his feelings, “He can get on my nerves. Especially about the others. I try to avoid them as much as possible, which is easy, because I’m allowed to leave the Compound. They’re not. But when I want to use the kitchen or the gym, I have to option but to meet the others. Last night, for example, the others were arguing like the whiny little _shits_ they are-“ James frowned angrily at the memory, “and I went to the gym to let out steam but Clint came in and had this whole talk about his life and feelings. While I appreciate the sentiment of him wanting to explain things-“ James shrugged. He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

“Yeah, I completely understand. You just want to be alone.” Tony mumbled but James understood every word perfectly.

“Or, at least, not see them every day. The worst is, I’ve tried in the nicest possible way pointing out to Steve that we can’t trust the witch. She’s ex-Hydra. She chose to join Hydra. That’s something I can never forget.” James looked at the floor, shaking his head. “How could he let someone like that become a part of his team? We’ve all done bad things, I know because I’ve done _despicable_ things. I know Natasha has done terrible things. But all the witch does is _whine_ about things are so unfair and how she suffers so much. As if we don’t all suffer.”

Tony looked up at him for a few seconds before looking back down at his arm and finishing off what he wanted to do. Closing his arm again, he took off the gloves and sat back up. “She’s that bad?”

“She’s unbearable. She tried to justify her reasons why she did what she did but all it sounded to me was, ‘Why are you not enchanted by me?’ I swear, she has everyone except Sam and me wrapped around her little finger. Natasha doesn’t even say anything. But no matter how much I have Steve on my side, I’m sure she uses her magic on him. I don’t trust her. Any day now, when she gets tired of the Council not approving her for duty and getting tired of the Compound, she could just do whatever she wants.” James shook his head, clenching his fist.

Tony nodded, his eyes haunted but a smile on his lips.

“Why are you smiling?” James frowned at the man.

“Because I know I’m not the only one anymore. When she joined the ‘team’, Bruce and I were mad. But he left and then I was the only opposing her. Me, the asshole billionaire that caused the war in her country. Steve obviously took her side.” Tony sighed, rubbing his face tiredly.

“He shouldn’t have.”

“’She’s just a kid, Tony.’” Tony rolled his eyes, “’She’s from a war-torn country, from _your_ weapons!’” Tony imitated Steve but there was no humour in his voice.

“That’s not you anymore, though. I read about you, they gave me files on you.” James said then clarified.

“Then you should have hated me. Steve took one look at those and declared me everything wrong with the future.” Tony shrugged.

“Steve was wrong. He-he doesn’t understand how people’s past doesn’t define people today, which is a bit ironic. It’s the changes we make and the people we become, the people we choose to be, that define us. And you changed it. You changed your company and everything they did. That doesn’t sound like ‘everything wrong with the future’ to me. That sounds like ‘everything right with the future’.” James stood up slowly, walking over to Tony.

Tony, who stood up as well, looked at him with soft eyes and a weak smile. “It’s nice to hear that I’m not the most hated man in America, I guess.”

“I think I took your crown then.” James, standing a few inches taller than him, looked down into his eyes.

“Some people would say we share that crown.” Tony said, tight voice.

“Some people would say that Steve Rogers can do no wrong. People are wrong.” James offered and Tony nodded.

“People are dumb. Except a few.” Tony agreed, smiling softly.

“A few? Who are those few people?”

“Rhodey. Peter. Pepper. You.”

“Me?”

“You.”

The two men were standing close to each other, looking each other in the eyes. They shared a warm smile between them and it was just then that Peter came in, waving sheets of paper with distress in his eyes.

“Mr. Stark- Tony- I need _help_ -“ He stopped when he saw the two men standing close to each other. “Oh my god, am I interrupting?”

James stepped back and so did Tony, very aware of the fact that James was shirtless.

“uh-I-I need to go, I promised Steve I’d work out with him and uh-it’s already late-“ James explained quickly, reaching over to his t-shirt and pulling it on.

“It’s 4 pm.” Peter said, grinning. As if the teen _didn’t_ know what was happening, he seemed to know more than he should.

“I-uh-yeah. Bye, Tony. Thank you for the arm!” James smiled at Tony who just nodded, smiling back.

“Sure, yeah, of course.”

*

Tony watched the semi-super soldier leave then looked at Peter with one raised eyebrow. “What was that, kid? I know you’re doing English lit homework but what makes you think I can help you with that?”

Peter shrugged, “Oh, nothing, I just want to talk about some ideas I have for my essay. It has absolutely nothing to do with a naked man standing in front of you.”  The teen grinned deviously, walking over to the desk and setting down his notebook and textbook.

“He wasn’t _naked_ , just _shirtless_.” Tony mumbled.

“Oh, I’m _so_ sorry, were you two-“ Peter motioned between Tony and the door.

Tony shook his head quickly, “What? No, of course not. That would be _so_ unprofessional and he’s not even that hot, I was just working on his arm and then we were talking. Talking and complaining, really. About Rogers. Really, just complaining.”

“Complaining. Is that what they call it nowadays? I’m sure it was called something else.” Peter mumbled and Tony distinctly _ignored_ any comment the teen made, choosing to look at the essay question instead.

“Do you believe Hamlet to be mad? or is he simply playing his part?” Tony read out loud and sighed, shaking his head.

“Alright kid, pull up a chair. This should take some time.” Tony nodded to the chair James had sat in when he noticed that James had left his jacket behind- a black leather jacket with his phone in which was buzzing now.

Tony took the phone out and saw that Steve was calling, Steve smiling at the camera with such a _dumb_ smile that Tony just shoved the phone back in the jacket.

“Friday? Can you contact the Compound, let them know Jimothy left his jacket and phone behind?”

“ _Of course, boss._ ”

“Jimothy?” Peter looked at Tony with an eyebrow raised.

“Don’t sass me, young man, I’ll tell your bio teacher what _really_ happened with Hamie the Hamster when you had him.”

“No-please, Mr. Stark, please don’t-“  
*

It was about halfway back to the Compound that James stopped and realized he left his jacket and phone in Tony’s workshop.

And really, he probably should have noticed _way_ earlier. But his mind was buzzing with the closeness that the two had shared, and there was this _look_ and Tony was so close. His stomach felt uneasy but in a _nice_ way and his heart was still beating heavily in his chest.

He wasn’t dumb, he knew Tony was attractive. Anyone with eyes could see that. From his handsome face, his soft hair, the _biceps_ on the man and that-

 _Stop thinking about him_ , James shook his head, walking quicker back to the Compound.

 _But he’s gorgeous and he understands_ , James countered in his head. Talking to Tony, things just slipped out. He tried to not say anything too revealing or complain too much about the other Avengers, but it was so _easy_ and Tony _understood_. Tony understood in a way that Sam could only emphasize with.

Arriving back at the Compound, he couldn’t shake the dumb wolfish grin off of his face so when Steve came up to him, frowning, “Is everything okay? Tony left a message saying you forgot your phone at his workshop. Is everything alright with your arm- _why_ are you smiling like that?”

Sam walked up behind Steve and his eyes widened comically. “Oh no, Steve, it happened! Just look at that smile! He’s going to eat us!”

James rolled his eyes, jabbing Sam lightly in his side. “Shut up, Birdy.” He teased his friend who responded with a wink. “Good point, Steve.” Sam chuckled, turning from Steve to James, “Why _are_ you smiling like that? Usually you walk around like this.” Sam pulled his face into a mean, angry frown that looked comically on him.

Steve nodded, grinning. “No, don’t forget the-“ He pulled his face into a blank face, pulling his mouth sideways and rolling his eyes. “Classic Barnes.”

James rolled his eyes, “Jesus, you’d think I never smile.”

“Oh there’s the face we know and love.” Sam grinned. “It’s cause you _don’t_ smile. Is this because of a certain mechanic, dare I say?” He walked around, putting his arm around James’ shoulder.

“Is it?” Steve asked, suddenly serious.

“Is it what?” James pretended not to know what Steve was asking. He didn’t want to tell anyone just yet- not while he was still living with a witch who he didn’t trust.

“Are you smiling because of Tony?” Steve frowned.

“What’s it to you anyway? It’s a nice, warm day outside. Maybe I’m smiling because I got away from the _stink_ of you guys.” James nudged Sam’s arm off of him and Sam pressed his hands over his own chest.

“You wound me, Bucky. You wound me deeply.” He teased him.

James bit his lip, hesitant. Now would be as good a time as he would get, “I prefer James.”

“What? Since when?” Steve frowned even more now. _How are there different levels of the ‘Rogers Frown’_ , James thought grumpily.

“I don’t like ‘Bucky’ but I know that you love it. I like James.” James said, standing a bit straighter now.

“Why didn’t you say so before, _James_? Jim. Jimmyboy.” Sam grinned at him but James looked at Steve.

“I would have accepted you not wanting to be called Bucky. Is that what the whole thing with Wanda was?” Steve asked.

“My name _is_ James. You called me Bucky, _they_ called me Winter Soldier or Asset. I wanted to control what I was called. But you started talking about the ‘good old days’ and I didn’t want to make you sad. You were already so sad.” James shrugged, “But now it’s a bit annoying.”

“I’m sorry, Bu-James.” Steve sighed and offered a hug.

James hugged him close, “Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. It’s not that big of a deal. Just call me James now. Or Jim, I guess” James mumbled, grinning at Sam.

“So, Jimmyboy, wanna hit the gym?” Steve grinned, pulling back and clasping James on the shoulder.

“Don’t call me _that_. But yes, I do. Imma knock that stupid grin off your face.” James teased Steve, nudging his hand off playfully.

“Oh, I’d like to see you try that, _Jimmyboy_.”

*

Training with Steve gave James a chance to unwind completely, not holding back. Maybe he should, but the two friends knew they could take it. Steve was a brickhouse of muscle and while James wasn’t _as_ muscular, but he was more capable than defeating Steve. So really, they were even. Mostly.

James ducked, swiping Steve’s feet out from under him and in one swift movement, knocked Steve on his back as James gripped his waist, pinning his friend to the ground. James grinned, kneeling next to Steve.

“That’s basically cheating.” Steve groaned, getting back up.

“You said you wanted to fight.” James held up his hands and as Steve moved to punch him in his side, James caught his hand with his own.

That’s when the alarm went off and a voice sounded afterwards, “Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Winter Soldier to suit up. Doctor Doom and Doombots are on their way to attack New York City. We think he’s after Doctor Strange and the New York Sanctum. Further information will be given once you’re all suited up and on the Quinjet, waiting for you on the hangar. You have five minutes.”

James gave Steve a look and the two raced to the armory, a locked room in the Compound where the Council kept everyone’s armor and weapons. The room was unlocked and the five Avengers got dressed quickly, piling on their weapons.

James was dressed in his armour Shuri had given him- a beautiful one-sleeved jacket in a deep blue with black straps on his shoulder. The material was light, breathable but was tight to give him protection from small arms fire and flexibility. Apart from that, he had a small fully-automatic gun strapped to the back of his neck he could reach easily, several knives he hid on his body and picked up the M249 SAW Paratooper fitted with a SureFire 100-round casket magazine he had gotten in Wakanda.

The five of them piled into the Quinjet, silent as ever. Steve had his Captain America uniform on- the slightly darker colours and his full beard giving him a more serious look. Sam had his Falcon wings and armour, red goggles protecting his eyes. Natasha had her Black Widow armour on, her dark red hair pulled up in a tight bun, face neutral as always. Barton had his Hawkeye uniform on, long sleeved dark coat with special gloves on his hands and clutching his bow.

James looked away from them to see Sharon, the stern woman with a clipboard in her hand. “We have intel that Doctor Doom is heading to the New York Sanctum. We have informed Doctor Strange and Wong, they will defend from inside their house. We have also informed Iron Man and Spiderman and they are both ready. Doombots have reached city limits from the east and are headed straight to the Sanctum, through Jersey City. So far they have ignored any civilians but we have given News Networks the warnings to tell people to stay off streets. We will drop you off by the Hudson River, near Greenwich Village. Don’t let them get to the Sanctum or else we are all doomed. Any questions?”

James raised his hand and Sharon looked at him, “Yes?”

“Nice pun, Sharon.” He smiled and she shook her head, smiling.

“Is the mission clear?” She asked again and everyone nodded silently. “Good. Drop off in 5 minutes. Be ready to jump out. Everyone, take a parachute. Or don’t, I know Parachutes aren’t a thing for Captain Rogers.” She say sarcastically and Steve grinned, looking at the ground.

*

Fighting doombots after they blasted his arm off, James found he held a new form of rage and spite. The robots, shaped like men with masks on their faces, were harder to defeat this time around but were still no match for the combined strength of the Avengers.

The robots, James didn’t believe it, came across the Hudson River on a _boat_. With the words, ‘Doom’ on the side. Which was equally as dumb, seeing as there was the Holland Tunnel underneath the Hudson River but James attributed the fact that maybe Doctor Doom, King of Latveria, may not have known that. If they weren’t in to take over the New York Sanctum, James would have laughed

The streets were empty and so the Rogue Avengers spread apart, all facing the River. Barton was hidden on the rooftop of a building with his arrows ready. Iron Man, Spiderman and Falcon gave them air support. James was still a bit…embarrassed from earlier but his stomach was also doing that thing again- turning but in a pleasant way. He shook his head, getting lost at the memory of standing so close to Tony.

The robots reached the harbour and dispersed onto the streets, walking calmly as ever. Normal pace. Really, James would have thought they’d be in a rush. Apparently they weren’t.

“Heads up” Steve said in the comms and the fight began; Natasha, Steve and James started running towards the bots. Seeing three people running towards them, they stopped, looked at each other then started running towards the three Avengers. James was the first to reach them, the gun still strapped to his back as he chose to personally rip their heads off with his hands. He flicked his wrist, knife sticking out of his palm and made his way through the bots. Dodging their flighty hands, he took them down fast.

The other two, Steve and Natasha, made their way through the front of the bots. Iron Man, Spiderman and Falcon dealt with the bots who were at the back. Barton was shooting them from where he was hidden. James, Natasha and Steve moved together, electrocuting [Natasha], punching through [Steve] or ripping off their heads [James].

They worked their way through the army of robots quickly, leaving none alive. Steve decided they were done, putting his hands on his hips with a victorious smile but James spotted a robot not far away who had snuck off. “Not yet. There are more. They dispersed.” He said into the comm, warning the others.

“Comb the streets!” Steve instructed. James was already ahead of him, running to catch up with the robot, throwing his knife against its head and watched with satisfaction as the knife lodged itself deep into its head. It kept going, however. James sped up, tackling the bot from behind, reaching for his gun but the bot grabbed James’ arms, holding his wrists tightly.

“What-the fuck” James groaned. The bot pushed James off with ease, standing up whilst holding James by his wrists.

The mask was slightly askew but this robot had glowing red eyes, as opposed to the others who had blank eyes.

 “Okay, some of them are _special_.” James said loud enough for the others. He gripped the bot’s waist with his legs, twisting himself out of the bot’s grip and twisted his legs, flipping the bot. Landing on top of it, he reached for his gun again and shot it clean in his head and chest. The bot’s eyes faded from red to blank.

“Jimothy, behind you!” Tony’s voice shouted and before James could turn around, he felt the presence of another bot behind him. There was a noise of _pwah_ and the bot fell down next to him. Iron Man hovered a couple of feet behind him, having shot the bot behind James.

James turned around, grinning at Tony. “Thank you”

“No problem.” Tony’s mechanical voice came through the comms.

“We got the rest of them. We’re done. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe it’s not over.” Steve’s voice announced over the comms.

Tony walked over to James and opened his armour, revealing his face. He reached inside and gave James his phone with a grin. “You forgot your jacket too but I couldn’t fit that in here.”

James took the phone from Tony, trying not to blush. He wasn’t sure if it was working. “Thank you, again.”

Tony winked, “No problem, Jimothy.” He closed his armour, “You can come by after the debriefing. Or any time, really. You’re always welcome at the Tower.” He said, stepped back and flew off. James was left to stare after him, smiling softly.

“Cap! Look at Jimmy’s face!” Sam’s hysterical voice came through, followed by Sam laughing. Steve, not far away from James, turned around and saw the warm smile on his friends’ face. “It _is_ Tony.” Steve grinned.

James realized where he was and _who_ he was with, glaring at Steve. “No, it’s not. I just missed my phone.”

“Sure you did. Come on, clean up then debriefing. Let’s pile all these robots into one and contact the Council.”

 _It wasn’t because of Tony_ , James thought grumpily, but he knew he was lying.


	5. A Fundraiser To Enjoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Fundraiser will bring James and Tony much closer together than they expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay SO. Here is where I go a bit away from canon. Tony in this universe is an Establish Bi™ who is a philanthropist involved in LGBTQ+ Issues because he's like that.  
> James' sexuality is slightly touched upon but it's subtext, really.  
> Half-way through! Thank you all for sticking with me on this :D

_“All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.”_

_Leo Tolstoy_

Tony Stark was not shy. This didn’t mean he never felt awkward or that he wasn’t anxious; the opposite. He talked to cover up, he talked and talked. It took a while for Rhodey to look through this but once he knew what Tony was on about, he’d let his best friend talk and talk until he reached what was on his mind. The two had figured this out when they were young, and it was only after Afghanistan that the two talked again truly about their thoughts and feelings.

With Pepper, it was like a dance. Sometimes it felt only Tony was dancing though. Fighting nightmares, trying to be ‘normal’, Tony quickly regretted it. Pepper wanted to know what was in his mind, she wanted to talk. Tony wasn’t ready for such honesty, for such raw truth. When they moved in together, before the Mandarin destroyed his home, Tony had held it together because he now shared his home with Pepper. Needless to say, they didn’t work as a couple. But they worked wonders as friends, and this was where they truly bonded.

Harley Keener had been a little force of nature that made Tony confront his anxiety in a way Tony hadn’t wanted to. But he had also been a comfort, and Tony often liked to check in with how the young boy was doing. After giving him the Potato Mark III, Harley often sent him e-mails about how things at school are going and Tony always made sure to reply. It was nice.

Peter was something else entirely. Tony wasn’t a perfect person, but he promised he’d be a better role model to Peter than Howard had ever been to himself. Maybe he didn’t handle things well, that’s on him. He never cared for a teen before but Peter brought such light and _life_ into his day-to-day that Tony hadn’t felt in ages. So, instead of using Howard’s method of ‘Stark Men are made of Iron’ and ‘Don’t talk about your feelings’, Tony wanted to let Peter know that Tony would be there for him. It worked well between them, Peter confided in him and vice versa. It was heart-warming to have the confidence of such a young genius in him and he made sure to always keep Peter safe and prepared.  

He had a tight group of people he could rely on to talk to; he felt lucky to have these people around him.

And then, he started talking with James.

Tony was curious, he couldn’t imagine living with the Rogue Avengers. So, he asked James how it was. The conversation that followed had been …refreshing. James understood, too well, what it was like to be _hated_. Of course, their pasts were completely different. But James had not held anything against him- _Merchant of Death_ \- and it was like Tony’s heart stopped. With everyone else, he got off on the wrong foot. Natasha, Steve, Thor, Fury. It had been exhausting. He didn’t blame them, he blamed himself, but it was nevertheless exhausting. Tony often thought about the fight in Siberia, fighting against Steve. Fighting against James. Tony wished he had never gone, he would still have his fingers and wouldn’t have this arc reactor in his chest.

But instead of hating him, like Tony had expected, James didn’t. James had been _wracked_ with guilt and honestly, Tony didn’t blame him for his parents’ death. Talking with James so incredibly easy, from a man with a dark past to a man with a dark past.

It was unlike the other Avengers. Natasha just branded him as an egotistical asshole, Steve had seen him as a lesser Stark who wasn’t worth much, Clint hadn’t even blinked in his direction, Thor had been dismissive of mortals in any way. Bruce had been his only true friend, and even then, Bruce was gone now. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff joined HYDRA _because_ of him, so really there was not much to think about on what Wanda thought about him.

Tony was just happy that he and James were on good terms.

*

After the battle with the doom-bots- _again_ – Tony flew back to the Tower where he knew a Council/SHIELD Agent would be waiting to debrief him and Peter. Peter was slinging his way from building to building, no problem whatsoever in getting to the tower.

A tall man, wearing a dark suit, was waiting with Rhodey in the living room. “Mr. Stark. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Agent Adams, I’m here to debrief you on the fight.” He smiled, walking over to Tony and offering his hand.

Tony shook the man’s hand with a small smile then sat down on the couch, next to Rhodey. Peter came in a few seconds later, grinning excitedly. “That was _so_ awesome!”

“Mr. Parker, I’m Agent Adams.” The Agent repeated, offering Peter his hand to shake as well.

Peter just clapped his hand against the offered hand of the agent, grinning. He turned and sat down next to Tony on the couch, sliding off the mask.

The agent walked to stand in front of them, taking out a small notebook and pen. “Can you begin to describe the fight?”

Tony started, “Sure. There were about two hundred of those doom-bots. Most of them were pretty weak robots except for a few select that were a bit tougher to defeat with glowing red eyes. Their weaknesses centre in lack of intellect and flexibility, their cores were easy to rip out and they had no fire-power resistance. I’m wondering what Doom is even attempting with such weak robots.”

The agent nodded along, writing down some notes. He asked some more questions that Tony answered as he felt Peter deflate from the buzz of fighting next to him. The agent left soon and Tony nudged a sleepy Peter.

“You need some dinner?” Tony offered and Peter nodded, curling sideways into Tony.

“Man, fighting always takes it out of me.” The young teen yawned but tried to supress it.

“I’ll call Happy, let him know he should come pick you up.” Tony softly nudged Peter off of him and stood up.

“Can I stay a bit, though?” Peter asked, looking up at Tony with puppy dog eyes.

Tony turned to Rhodey, “You see what he’s doing to me? Blackmail.” To which Rhodey just chuckled but said nothing, “It’s a school-night and it’s like 7 pm. By the time you eat and get home, it’ll be late and I promised Aunt May I wouldn’t let Avengers get too much in the day to day of your young, teen life.” Tony said with a grin.

Peter pouted, “Is this because of earlier?”

“What happened earlier?” Rhodey raised an eyebrow and grinned at Peter.

“Well I walked in, all innocent in need with my homework, when I find none other than Barnes, shirtless, standing in front of Tony. They were _so_ about to kiss.” Peter explained dramatically, hand on his chest over his heart.

Tony rolled his eyes, sighing. “That’s not what it was!” against Rhodey’s loud laugh.

“I think it’s exactly what it sounds like. Tones.” Rhodey wheeled over to Tony, nudging him with his wheelchair. “Ain’t that cute.”

“I’m ignoring all of you. I guess I’ll just get Chinese take out on my own.” Tony shrugged, walking out of the room to the protests of his two closest friends. He laughed, “I’m joking.” He turned around to see the hope on Peter’s face, “Or am I?”

“Wha-?” Peter jumped up, running after Tony. “You wouldn’t.”

Rhodey followed, “Yo, Tony, you wouldn’t. Remember when I brought you Chinese take out when you were studying for your final exams?”

“True, good point.” Tony winked at his lifelong best friend and nudged the teen in front of him. “Okay, I’ll let you have greasy Chinese food.”

“YES!” Peter jumped to hug Tony, squeezing the older man excitedly. Tony groaned in pain, the young teen forgetting his strength, “Peter-I know-“

*

“There will be a Fundraiser Gala next week. You are expected to attend. The Rogue Avengers, except for Wanda Maximoff, will attend. Agents will keep the two groups apart so you do not have to worry about talking to them if you don’t want to.” Agent Adams told Tony, sitting together at a table in Tony’s penthouse.

“A Fundraiser Gala. For Greenwich Village. But also charity It’s a nice look, giving back to the community. You know this. Your face will bring a lot of people, but so will the others’.” Agent Adams continued.

Tony nodded slowly, “What about Rhodey and Pepper?”

“They are invited, too. Rhodey as inactive member of the Avengers and Pepper as the CEO of SI. Spiderman would be invited but he’s a minor, it’s a schoolnight and he wants to keep his identity secret.”

“So everyone from the Rogue Avengers is coming except for Maximoff? Why isn’t she invited?” Tony asked, curious and relieved.

“Until she passes our tests, we can’t let her out of the Compound. While we have measures to stop her in the Compound, outside she is too dangerous. At least, until she can be trained. We have contacted Doctor Strange and the New York Sanctum to see if they could perhaps train her, but we haven’t heard back yet.”

“Could you possibly keep me updated on that?” Tony asked, a slight grin on his face. He could only imagine Stephen Strange in front of Wanda Maximoff.

Agent Adams smiled a little, “Maybe. So Steve Rogers, James Barnes, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton will attend. In case any of these try and talk to you, what do you want us to do?”

“I don’t mind if James wants to talk to me. We’ve talked and made up. I think Rhodey will want to talk to Sam as well. I think, just keep the others busy so it’s not that obvious and they won’t feel rejected?”

Agent Adams nodded, taking down these suggestions.

“What’s your full name, by the way? I assume it’s not ‘Agent’?” Tony quipped jokingly.

“Surprisingly, it isn’t. It’s Phil.” The Agent didn’t look up from his notes and missed the small flicker of emotion on Tony’s face.

“Thank you for stopping by, Agent.” Tony stood up, hand absent-mindedly rubbing the arc reactor on his chest.

*

James’ leather jacket was still in Tony’s workshop. Tony hadn’t moved it from where James had laid it around the back of the chair. He did run his hands over the worn leather sometimes, deep in thought. It’s not like he could feel the leather on his fingers- just barely- but he could feel it through the palm of his hands.

James hadn’t contacted him since the battle or dropped by to get his jacket. Tony supposes it had only been two days, maybe James didn’t need his jacket yet.

 Or of course, he could also just decide that he didn’t want to see Tony again after the moment they shared. That could be it, maybe James wasn’t gay. Tony wasn’t one to judge, proud bisexual himself, but James and Rogers _did_ grow up in a different century. But that wasn’t the impression James gave off- he hadn’t acted like the type to get offended if a guy showed interest in him.

But what did Tony know, really. He decided not to overthink this little thing.

*

“A fundraiser?”

Tony and Peter were in the workshop – their favourite place to be – when Tony told Peter about the upcoming event. Not for Peter to go, but Peter liked to be updated on what was happening in the life of Tony and Tony liked the teen’s interest. It was heart-warming.

“Yeah, for Greenwich Village. We didn’t destroy _that_ much technically, but the streets are damaged and it’s always good to have a fundraiser. We’re not only fundraising to fix the streets, we’re also giving to charity. It’s important.”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Peter mumbled with a frown, “Will the others be there?”

“Yeah, they will. Except for Maximoff. But we need Captain America to show up, people still love him.”

“They shouldn’t.” Peter grumbled, “What if he tries to talk to you?”

“There will be Shields Agents around and I won’t be alone.”

“Do you want to talk to him?”

“Not particularly. Maybe if I have a couple of drinks, I wouldn’t be _totally_ against trying to regroup but the last time I saw him we were fighting badly. And he lied to me. Unless he sees what he did, I doubt any talk will go well.”

Peter nodded in agreement. “Okay. Are you _sure_ you don’t want me there?”

“Peter. I’m a grown man. I’ll be fine. I’ll have Rhodey, I’ll have Pepper-“

“Will James be there?” Peter asked, wide grin on his face.

Tony looked at the jacket, “He will. I could give him his jacket back?”

Peter shook his head, dropping his face in his hands. “Then he’ll have no excuse to come by! I thought you were supposed to be _good_ at being a playboy.”

Tony looked at Peter, processing every word the young teen just said. “I’m sorry, what did you just say? Cause I swear, it sounds like you are insinuating something and it better not be what I think it is.” But he didn’t mean any anger, more surprised than anything.

Which is why Peter, certified little _shit_ , just grinned, humming. “I would _never_ insinuate **anything** , Tony.”

*

The week went by rather quickly, more quickly than Tony would have liked. Pepper was busy, as always, being CEO at Stark Industries but as Tony was the genius behind the inventions of SI, it was a busy week of designing, probing, patenting and building. So by the time it was the day of the fundraiser, Tony barely realised what day it was.

Rhodey, dressed in a nice tux, came walking into the workshop and it took Tony a couple of seconds to realize what he was seeing.

“Rhodey! Rhodes, honey bear, you’re walking!” Tony jumped up, running over to his best friend. “You look so nice! Wha-how? Is it the-“ He motioned to the knees.

Rhodey grinned, a warm, nice smile on his face, and hugged his best friend tightly. “Thank you, Tones. Yeah, it’s the designs you gave Pepper. She didn’t tell you she put it into production. I’ve been practising with them in physical therapy. I wanted to surprise you.”

“How do they work? Are there any kinks? I could take a look at them right now, if you want me to-“ Tony started talking, so incredibly happy Rhodey can walk now but eager to fix any problems the new designs presented.

“Tony. They’re perfect.” Rhodey interrupted his babbling with a calm voice. “Thank you. I don’t know how to thank you, but I will find a way.”

“Oh please, you don’t need to find a way to thank me. The fact that you’re walking is amazing in itself. Besides, I’ve been getting bruises from how many times you bump your wheelchair into my legs.” Tony laughed and Rhodey joined in, sharing this moment with his best friend.

“Your tux is waiting in your room, I picked it up when I went. We gotta leave in an hour. Go shower, you smell like _grease_.” Rhodey nudged Tony away, cringing dramatically.

“It’s the smell of _success_ , honey-bear.”

*

Pepper arrived at the tower an hour later, dressed in a beautiful blue gown with her hair pinned up. Rhodey stood in the living room, his back to the door. Pepper gasped when she saw Rhodey, “They work?”

“They work so well.” Rhodey turned around, grinning at his other best friend. “You look as gorgeous as ever, Pep.” He walked over to her, putting on a bit of a walk.

“Thank you” Pepper chuckled, smiling brightly.

Tony walked out to the other two, smiling brightly. “Should be a good night. Rhodey can walk. I have a beautiful woman by my side. Raising funds for charity. Not too bad.” He opened his arms to hug Pepper and Rhodey.

Pepper pressed the two men in her arms, squeezing them tightly. “It will be a good night. I got the limo waiting outside. Let’s go.” She pulled away and walked to the elevator.

*

The Fundraiser itself was absolutely beautiful. Hosted in one of the oldest buildings in Greenwich Village, the walls were decorated in beautiful dark red and blue colours, decking out the luxurious hall. There were two open bars on opposing ends, with a buffet filled with various types of sea food backed to the wall. There was a wooden dancefloor spanning the majority of the floor, a live band playing music. By the time that Tony, Rhodey and Pepper arrived, the Gala was in full swing.

The three walked in and were instantly swarmed by other people. Tony, having the most practise and experience at these sort of things, was a natural charmer. He hated having to schmooze all of this old money, but it _was_ for a good cause.

He didn’t seen any of the Rogue Avengers yet but he figured he will before the night is over. He didn’t bring James’ jacket, after all.

Eventually, he got himself a drink to calm his nerves. Crowds never used to make him nervous but now he felt a distinct anxiety at the back of his mind. Alcohol was usually a good way to keep his nerves down. He held the drink tight his hand, talking to an elderly pair about the benefits of the chosen charities when he noticed a group of people walking in. Everyone else turned too.

Captain America, Steve Rogers, was dressed in a nice dark navy suit, trimmed beard and combed back hair. He stood in the middle, nervous smile gracing his face. But Tony’s eyes didn’t last on him; they settled instantly on James.

James ‘Bucky’ Barnes was dressed in a black tuxedo with a dark blue bow-tie around his neck. His long hair was braided back into a bun and his stubble was slowly growing into a beard. He looked incredibly. Tony tore his eyes away from the attractive young man to look at the other Rogue Avengers.

Natasha stood next to James, dressed in a long black gown and her short hair curled. Sam stood next to her, dressed in the same tux as James and next to him stood Clint. Clint was dressed in a dark suit with a black tie, neutral face staring out into the hall.

Tony turned away, taking a sip of his drink and excused himself from the elderly couple. He downed the rest of his drink, walking over to the bar. He hadn’t thought anything of seeing the others tonight.

He really didn’t.

He’d _seen_ them before, dressed in their costumes, dressed for battle, dressed for war. It had been less shocking to see them in the costumes they had fought him in. But seeing them all in formal clothing seemed wrong. James looked absolutely gorgeous but the sight of Steve Rogers in a suit was a little too much.

He asked for another drink, Rhodey coming up behind him. “Tony, you okay?” his best friend asked, in a concerned tone.

Tony nodded, “I’m okay. I’m okay. I just need a little fire in me right now.”

“Okay. I’ll keep an eye on you. You’re fine.” Rhodey whispered to him, giving him a half-hearted hug. “Don’t show them any weakness. You’re strong and you’re better than them.” He said fiercely and Tony wanted to laugh but instead he just nodded, taking a sip of his whiskey.

Dispersing into the crowd, Tony tried to keep an eye on all of the Rogue Avengers. He thought that it wouldn’t be weird, it wouldn’t be so gut-wrenching to see Rogers and the others. He shook his head, focusing on the people he was talking to and indulged in conversation. This was for charity after all and Tony was nothing if not charitable.

Finishing off one couple and turning to another, Tony was stopped however by the sight of James walking towards him. “Hey, Tony. I was wondering if you could give me a drinks recommendation. I haven’t drunk in about seventy years. Help a guy out?” James flashed him a gorgeous smile and who was Tony to deny the man of alcohol?

So Tony led James to the closest bar, finishing off his own drink. “You clean up nice, Jimothy.” Tony smiled at the other man.

“Thank you. I try. Now, what would you recommend an old man like me?”

“Old man? Old men love bourbon. Bourbon and whiskey, which is what I’m drinking. But you had that back in the day. Let’s get you something that you probably never even thought of.” Tony grinned and James nodded.

“Bring it on.”

“Two flaming Doctor Pepper shots, please.” Tony turned to the bartender, flashing a smile. The bartender nodded, ducking behind the bar to pull out the ingredients. James watched in fascination as the bartender mixed the two drinks, poured them into shot glasses and set them alight.

“How are we gonna drink that without burning?” James asked in awe and fascination, grinning.

Tony tipped the bartender, “We don’t. The flame changes the taste of the shots but it’s too dangerous to drink like that.”

The bartender killed the fire with a shaker tin, pushing the two shots towards the two men. “Enjoy” She smiled.

“Go on.” Tony grinned, picking up one of the shots and James followed suit.

“ **Nostrovia!** ” James grinned and the two downed their shots. Tony was used to the burn of alcohol but it had been ages since he had truly gotten drunk. He cringed a bit and shook his head.

He looked at James who cringed as well but who was smiling as well at the same time. “That was something else. I can’t wait to try out more.” James chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

“Can you even get drunk?” Tony raised an eyebrow in curiosity and James shrugged.

“I know Steve can’t. But I have a different serum to Steve. I think so. Or at least, I hope so.” James grinned at the other man then looked out over the crowd, “Now, we’re supposed to be mingling and getting old people money.”

“We are. You can come with me, I’m a great schmoozer.” Tony suddenly said, eliciting a laugh from the younger man.

“’Schnmoozer’?”

“Yeah. Schmooze. It’s a great verb to use when you want to get something from someone but you have to be real nice about it.” Tony explained and James nodded in understanding.

“Right, right. Alright, I’ll watch the master do his work.” James offered an arm for Tony, for some reason, and Tony took it, for some reason. The two walked, Tony steering mostly, to one of the other old-money couple and began schmoozing them.

Whilst they were interest in what he had to say, he _was_ Tony Stark after all, they were also interested in James.

“My, aren’t you a handsome young man. You’re the famous Bucky Barnes, right? Well, I would have thought you’d be at Captain America’s side tonight.” The lady said with a lazy smile, holding onto her husband’s arm.

James shrugged easily, not phased by the accusation in her tone. “I thought so too but Tony caught my eye, looking like he does. Who wouldn’t be drawn to him?” He deflected, only slightly, and smiled at the other man who gave him a small but genuine smile back.

“So, how’s the whole brain-washing thing going? You’re not still on their side, right?” The husband asked, his voice more stern. As if James couldn’t snap his neck in half with his metal arm. Hell, he could probably do it with his right arm too.

“No, sir. The scientists in Wakanda worked wonders for my health. I’m completely cured.” James smiled his _best_ smile, the same smile that Sam compared to a hungry wolf, but it seemed to work as the couple seemed pleased.

Tony finished the conversation, not wanting to spend any more time with these people, bringing back the reason of the fundraiser.

After the couple left, James let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “That was torture. How do you do this?”

“You get used to it. Alcohol helps. Usually the rich widows are the worst.” Tony sighed, walking back to the bar and watching James order another shot.

“You can branch out. Try a Jaegerbomb. Absolutely disgusting but works wonders.” Tony suggested and James ordered another one.

The man, honest to god, took the two shots in his hands and downed them both at the same time. Tony may or may not have stared at him with a slight open mouth.

James shook his head, “God, that was disgusting.” With a laugh and turned back to Tony. “What? Just cause I haven’t drunk in seventy years doesn’t mean I don’t know how to drink.” He _winked_ at Tony and honestly, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe in disgust.

“Colour me impressed, Jimothy. I didn’t know.” Tony grinned and James leant against the bar, grinning.

“Come on, there’s more schmoozing to be done. Once we reach our goal, we can relax.” Tony pulled James back into the crowd, hand on the other man’s right arm. Tony could _feel_ the muscle underneath James’ jacket.

“What’s the goal? How do you know we haven’t reached it yet?”

“It’s a couple hundred thousand. Once we reach it, there will be an announcement followed by more celebration. Since tonight is not _just_ about repairing the streets of the Village, it’s also to donate to charity.”

“Which charity are we donating to?”

“The Ali Forney Center and Sylvia Rivera Law Project. They help the LGBT community tremendously and since the Village is the cradle of the LGBT movement in New York City, it only seems right.”

“That’s amazing, Tony.” James stopped, putting his hand over Tony’s and pulling him close.

“Well, don’t cream your pants just yet, Jimothy, we have to reach our goal first.”

*

After schmoozing two other couples, James and Tony were caught a famous widow, Amanda Schuyler. Tony knew her from other fundraising events and because the Schuylers are one of the oldest rich families in the city. Amanda was now in her mid-fifties, draped in a luxurious purple gown. Tony hadn’t thought she’d be here, mostly because he didn’t think she was involved in Greenwich Village.

“Oh Tony, you know better than to underestimate an old lady like me. The LGBT scene has always been important to me but more recently my daughter came out as transgender and she’s incredibly happy to have found a community in the Village. Which means I will happily donate money.”

“That’s wonderful. What’s her name?” Tony asked curiously. He had known Amanda’s only child under a masculine name.

“She chose Denise. A beautiful choice, really. It’s my grandmother’s name as well.” Amanda smiled, a genuine, happy smile. She was the only one there who genuinely cared and Tony always enjoyed seeing Amanda. So unlike other guests, she usually cared already for the cause at fundraisers.

“That’s wonderful.” James smiled at her and Tony looked up at James. He wondered if James had been involved in the LGBT scene back before the World War.

Amanda nodded, “Oh, yes. She’s settling into her new medication and it’s going quite well. She takes after her mother quite a bit.” She laughed, posing dramatically but took Tony’s hand suddenly. “She’s told me about all the work you’ve done for the Ali Forney Centre and how some of her less fortunate friends really rely on it. I wanted to thank you. I know you don’t have your name on display for these events but I know it’s you. And so, thank you. You’re saving lives you will never meet.”

Amanda left with that sentiment, recognising other people and left Tony speechless. James smiled at the ‘older’ man, “Tony? Is that true?”

Tony shrugged, waving off the feeling of sudden seriousness. He smiled, “I hate making charity about me. It’s not about me, it’s about the cause. And I was young once, I was confused once. There are people that helped me find who I am and ever since then, it was important to me to give back. Howard was never one to really-“ Tony sighed, wondering how to best phrase this, “talk about things like emotions, feelings, thoughts. So you can imagine a young me stumbling onto the scene.” He chuckled at the memory, his first time sneaking into a club.

“I know how that feels.” James sighed empathetically, “My old man hated talking as well. My mom, though. She loved heard the thoughts of her kids. If it hadn’t been for her, I would probably be different.” He smiled at her memory.

“That’s really nice.” Tony smiled with him and James nodded.

“It is.” James reciprocated his smile, the two lost in the moment for a second.

“Tony? Hey, Tony!” A man approached the two, shouting Tony’s name.

Tony turned away reluctantly but smiled brightly when he saw who it was. “Johnson! How are you, old man?”

“Who are you calling ‘old man’, old man?” A man in his forties hugged Tony and looked at James next to him. “Mr. Barnes? It’s nice to meet you!” He offered James his hand and James shook it.

“Who are you?” James really meant to sound more polite but he _did_ disturb him and Tony.

“I’m Lars Johnson, I work at the Forney Centre. I’m here as a representative, and spread awareness. You know how these things go.” Lars chuckled, holding a whiskey glass in one and a list in the other.

Tony put his hand on his shoulder, “We go way back, as well. Johnson here was the one who introduced me to the scene in New York.”

“Well, ‘introduce’. But anyway, I just wanted to say hello. I have lots of people to schmooze for donations. You need to come by more often, when you’ve got the time.” He turned to Tony who just waved his hands.

“Ah, you know. SI keeps me plenty busy nowadays.”

“I know, I know. Busy, busy genius inventing things to save lives.” Lars grinned, teasing his old friend. “I’ll see you guys around?” Lars turned to leave and James turned his back on him and faced Tony again.

Lars grinned at Tony again, winking then left.

Tony chuckled, looking up at James. “Another drink?”

“That sounds good.” James smiled softly at the slightly smaller man.

*

After another half hour of schmoozing old couples and other widows- one who tried to _grope_ James’ metal arm but Tony had quickly placed his arm around it- there finally was an announcement that the fundraising gala had met its goal.

A young lady with pinned-up hair and a big smile on her face held up a glass as she announced into the microphone, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you so much for coming. Tonight, our goal was to raise money for the streets of Greenwich Village and to raise money for two important groups that help the LGBT Community daily. We have the Avengers here tonight, we have representatives from both groups. It’s truly a joyous evening. We have reached our goal for tonight! Thank you everybody for donating!”

James turned to Tony with a grin, “Well done, Mister Stark.”

“Oh no, truly. I couldn’t have done it without you, Mister Barnes.” Tony smiled. The two were in their own little bubble, having spent the entire night with each other. Tony wondered if James was keeping him company so _certain_ other people kept away. If so, Tony was just too happy.

James looked around the room, spotting Steve. Steve, who had been side by side with Sam the whole night. Steve raised his eyebrows, in a way to say, _‘Hows it going’_

To which James just shrugged, smiling.

Suddenly though, Steve sighed and started walking to where James and Tony stood together. Before James could say anything to stop Steve however, an Agent [James had spotted them all] intercepted Steve.

Tony had gotten him and James two more drinks, both starting to get tipsy.

“Tony?”

“mh, yes?”

“What do you say we leave and get some dinner? I’m feeling some hunger for some Brooklyn burgers.” James, happy that they reached the goal of the fundraiser, wanted to spend no more second in the stuffy crowd of old-money couples.

“Brooklyn burgers?” Tony frowned, sipping on his drink.

“Brooklyn burgers.”

*

“Why did I think there was something special about Brooklyn burgers?” Tony teased James, leaning back in his seat.

The two men found themselves in James’ favourite diner in Brooklyn, a small place that had stood there since the Roaring Twenties and managed to survive the test of time. James loved it.

“There is, how dare you question the magic of Brooklyn burgers.” James dead-panned and Tony laughed softly.

The diner was a small, family-run restaurant with neon signs and dressed in fifties interior aesthetic with red leather-covered benches and the waiters and waitresses dressed in fifties clothes. Neither James nor Tony lived through the fifties but it felt right somehow.

“They’re from Brooklyn, I’m guessing?” Tony chuckled, the two waiting for the waiter to bring their food. Surprisingly enough, the small restaurant had a bar as well. The two nursed their drinks, feeling the buzz of the night.

“They are! But they’re also delicious.”

“Two things you have in common then.” Tony grinned at James’ reaction of _blushing_. Apparently, it was easier for James to get drunk than Steve but still rough. James had had several drinks and shots whereas Tony was on his fourth drink.

The waiter brought two plates with burgers and fries. “Enjoy” he smiled at the two famous men but didn’t say anything else.

“This better be amazing or I’m leaving for Manhattan.” Tony grumbled jokingly and bit into the burger. It shouldn’t have been so good but _damn_ that was a good burger. “God, that’s good.” Tony moaned.

James grinned to himself, eating his own burger. “Told ya.”

“I’m not complimenting you, Barnes, I’m complimenting the chef!”

“It’s okay, Tony, you can admit I was right. I won’t even tell anyone.” James winked, chewing through the hearty burger.

Tony just smiled softly, swallowing the burger with his drink. “This is nice, James. Thank you for sharing this with me.”

“You’re the first one I took here.”

“Really? Me? Not Rogers?”

“Nope, not Rogers.” James grinned, “I wouldn’t change it for a second either.”

“Aw, Jimothy, you’re gonna make me blush.” Tony teased but he really did appreciate this.

“Trust me, if I was trying to make you blush, you’d know.” James grinned at the other man, causing Tony to burst out laughing.

The two finished their burgers in comfortable silence, catching each other’s eyes at points and their hands touching at times by accident. It was enough to make Tony’s heart beat fast.

*

After they finished their food, finished their drink, paid, the two made their way out of the Diner slowly. They had taken one of the cars the Rogue Avengers had come in, one of the Agents driving them and so Tony offered for James to come back to the tower to pick up his jacket. “Yes, I do miss my trusty leather jacket.” James chuckled, getting in the car after Tony.

“I can only imagine what it has done to your reputation. Barnes without the leather jacket? It’s like peanut butter without jelly.”

“That’s honestly the worst thing about the twenty-first century. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“Oh, like you didn’t have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches back then? I call bullshit, Jimothy.”

“I mean we did, but I’m blaming modern times and you can’t stop me.” James stuck his tongue out at Tony and Tony really needed to take in this image of James; feared Winter Soldier, more confirmed kills than anyone, wearing a tux with his hair braided into a bun and sticking out his tongue at Tony. It was beautiful.

“Childish.”

“Old man.”

“Aren’t you technically the old man, though?” Tony chuckled.

“Technically, yes.” James shrugged, “But that’s a minor detail.”

“I think it’s a big detail, sweetheart.” Tony laughed and the two rode in companionable silence back to the tower. Security was still there, 24-7 after all, and they let the two men into the building. Tony knew his staff was a gossipy-bunch and he already had to stop rumours from the last time James visited. _Worth it though,_ Tony thought.

The two found themselves in the workshop again, James holding the leather jacket in his arms and standing next to Tony at his desk. “What are you currently working on?” James asked, looking at the designs on Tony’s desk but he couldn’t decipher much.

“Small stuff. I’m focusing on designing help for people with mobility issues. A few upgrades for the Iron Man suit. A few updates on Spiderman’s suit.”

“Spiderman? Was that the dude in the red suit with the sticky webs?” James remembered the fight in Germany. He also remembered that the young dude had caught his metal arm in his hand _seamlessly_. “You built his suit?”

Tony frowned for a second then smoothed out his face, chuckling. Did James not realize? “Yeah, I built it for him. He’s a good kid but someone needs to build him protection.”

“You know him personally?” James frowned.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Tony chuckled, leaning against the counter. “You want another drink or are you heading back?”

“I think I’ll stay for another drink.” James smiled and the two headed up to Tony’s pent-house, settling into the living room.

“I can’t offer you an alcoholic drink, Rhodey poured everything out a while ago and I haven’t gotten anything new. I can offer you tea and coffee, though.”

“Mh, tea sounds nice.” James leaned back on the couch, buzz of the night still present and Tony disappeared for a few minutes, returning with two cups of steaming tea.

“Thank you for inviting me up.” James smiled, stirring his tea with his metal finger. “I enjoyed tonight.”

“Good. Usually fundraising galas, while great in nature, are dreadful. But yeah, tonight was nice.”

James took a sip from the tea, enjoying its scalding heat and hesitated. He had been working on collecting information of his victims, fleshing them out in his head. He wondered if he could ask Tony about it. “Can you- Would you-“ He tried to ask and sighed, “Can you tell me more about your parents?”

Tony frowned, “My parents? Why?”

James bit his lip, “I’m looking up every person I ever had to kill.” He said slowly, “I only remember them as ‘ _missions_ ’-“ he shivered at the thought, “and I keep seeing them at night. I want to know them as more than just Hydra threats. Would it be okay if you told me more about your mother?”

Tony stayed silent for a while, taking sips of his tea. Just when James thought he _royally_ fucked up, Tony started speaking.

“She was Italian. Born in tiny village in the North of Italy, she came with her family to America in the 50s. Wild time, she worked in factories, supporting her family. Then she met my father, the great Howard Stark.” Tony huffed, rolling his eyes. “They fell in love, got married. Had me after a while. Never really got on with him, but my mom. My mom was absolutely amazing. She tried her best to keep my father and me on one side but sometimes I doubt whether he wanted to have a child.” He shrugged.

Tony continued, “She used to have this habit where she rubbed her thumb and pinky together for good luck. Told me that it would call my guardian angel and they would watch over me. She was too good for the world. Too good for my father. He didn’t deserve her, that’s what I remember thinking most when I was a child. She was beautiful, kind, loving. She uh-“ He smiled at the floor, “she always spoke with me in Italian and it drove Howard up the walls. He didn’t speak Italian, you see.” Tony looked up at James, grinning.

“But we spoke Italian whenever we wanted, all the time. It was our secret language. Jarvis learnt it too at one point, joining in.” Tony grinned, reminiscing.

James smiled, heart feeling tighter and tighter with each word. “Who’s Jarvis?”

“Jarvis was my butler when I grew up. But he was much more than that. Whilst Howard was very much absent, Jarvis raised me in that respect. I named my first AI after him. Just a rather very intelligent system.”

James grinned, “Just a rather very intelligent system. That’s good.”

“What about your mother?”

“Sally Barnes was a hell of a woman. She took horrible jobs to feed us, me and my siblings. She sang us to sleep when she was there to tuck us into bed. Always made sure we all had at least something to eat every day.” James sighed with a heavy heart, absent-mindedly rubbing his chest. “But then the Great Depression hit. I’ve seen reports today that describe how it was back then. It doesn’t quite capture the scene. Central park was full of people who had no homes so they made their own homes there. Children were the first casualty. Too young to work, too many mouths to feed. My parents lost their jobs and tried everything to feed us. It didn’t- it didn’t work out.”

The two men sat close next to each other, their thighs touching each other. James leant against Tony, letting his head rest on the other man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, James.” Tony said softly, putting his hand on the other’s knee as a sign of comfort.

“Yeah. I survived. My ma survived. My father survived. Steve survived. His mother survived. But my three little siblings didn’t. The price we had to pay for the rich banks was insufferable. I remember it so clearly, watching them slowly disappear until one day they didn’t wake up. I tried my best to always feed them first but my father. He was the one who caught me. Said, I was the best chance to grow up and work and feed the others. I know other families who sold their youngest ones so they could feed the eldest. My mother couldn’t bring it on herself to do that but nevertheless.” James hated to admit that there were tears in his eyes. He took in a watery breath and slid his arm around Tony’s shoulders.

“Life goes on with or without you.”

“It does. It really does.” Tony sighed, leaning his head on top of James’.

They leant back on the couch, curled in on one another. Tired, talked out for now, yawning. James wrapped his arm around Tony, burying his head into the other’s neck.

“Jimothy” Tony mumbled, trying not to let his eyes fall close. He knew he would fall asleep instantly if he did. He also knew this was a terrible position to fall asleep in.

“Tony.” James mumbled back, willingly falling asleep next to the other man.

“You should get back to the Compound.” Tony mumbled and James sighed but sat up again.

“I know, I know.” The two stood up, walking over to the elevator.

“Have one of the security men drive you home though. You shouldn’t drive now.” Tony sighed.

James hugged Tony tightly, sliding his arms around the small man’s waist and holding him close. “Goodnight, tony. Thank you for tonight.”

Tony, pleasantly surprised, hugged him back, resting his head on his muscled shoulder. “No problem. I’ll see you soon?”

“I’ll see you soon again, solnyshko.” Jams smiled, stepping into the elevator and the two held eye-contact until the doors closed.

Tony hummed happily, walking slowly to his bedroom and enjoying the racing of his heart, the butterflies in his stomach as he fell into his bed.

A good night, indeed.


	6. A Bright Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the Gala, both Tony and James are left with blossoming feelings and teasing friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes at the bottom!

_“Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.”_ _  
Brodi Ashton, Everneath_

 

The next morning, Tony was surprised to say that he had no headache. Sure, there was the feeling of nightmares and anxiety, but he had been drinking so he expected a headache or something similar. He rolled out of bed, sitting up slowly and groaned. He was still wearing the tux from the night before.

Undoing the jacket, he walked into his bathroom. Getting undressed slowly, he thought about the events from the night before. He remembered spending the entire night with James, coming back here and- and talking. Tony smiled to himself at the memory.

Usually after talking about anything deep or personal, he felt an emotional hangover. Like he’d been picked open, raw, and then felt emotionally hungover. It was why he never sought out on his own to talk about things- he had been living with them how he was taught and otherwise meant feelings.

But he didn’t feel anything like that now. He stood in the shower, letting the hot water run over his face. He felt the usual weird feeling after opening up to a, well not a _stranger_ , but no one from his little family. Talking with James had been so easy. When the Man had first asked him to talk about his parents, Tony didn’t know whether to yell at him to get out or cry.

He decided to talk.

Talk about Maria. Jarvis. Howard. And in return, James had told him what it was like growing up in the Depression Era, about his family. The two had lain on the couch together, James’ arm had been around his waist and Tony grinned at the memory.

The night had been wonderful.

If he didn’t know anything better, that would have resembled a date.

That thought startled him for a second and he turned the water colder. Shampooing his head, he thought about it. It wouldn’t be _so_ terrible if it had. Which it hadn’t. But maybe the idea was there. Of course, James _was_ living with the other Avengers and best friends with Rogers, whom he hadn’t talked to yet. But that wasn’t really much of anything- James did point out he didn’t like living there.

Finishing off with conditioner, Tony shook his head and started thinking about other things. His day ahead. Rhodey walking. Peter coming by later to ask about the gala, most probably already heard it from Rhodey but will _still_ ask Tony. Pepper giving him that _look_ which Tony didn’t know whether it was _‘I’m so happy you found someone’_ or _‘Why the hell did you ditch us at the Gala?’_

Stepping out of the shower, he dried off and got dressed. Waiting in the kitchen were Rhodey and Peter, eating and talking softly. When Tony entered the room, the two looked up with huge grins.

“Did you have a nice date last night, then?” Rhodey was the first to say.

“It wasn’t a date.” Tony rolled his eyes, placing a mug into the coffee machine.

“Yes, it was. Where did you guys even go?” Rhodey asked, smug smile in his voice.

“Nowhere. Somewhere.” Tony shrugged, taking out the mug and pouring sugar into it.

“Aw, please, tell us.” Peter’s voice begged and Tony turned around with a sigh, coming to sit down at the table.

“We went to a diner in Brooklyn and then back here because he forgot his jacket. It’s not that exciting, kids.”

“Dinner and a drink, then?” Rhodey grinned, “What, the shrimp at the Gala wasn’t fancy enough? You two looked gorgeous together, by the way.” He teased and Tony pouted, drinking his coffee.

“Do you have pictures?” Peter asked Rhodey, laughing a bit.

“Of _course_ I have pictures. They were practically inseparable all night.” Rhodey pulled out his phone and pulled up his pictures, showing Peter pictures of Tony and James standing close to each other all night.

“He asked me about what drink to get.” Tony shrugged.

“Did you drink last night?” Rhodey asked softly.

“Yeah, I had a couple. Four. It wasn’t bad.”

Rhodey pressed his lips together but sighed and nodded, “Okay. That’s okay.”

Peter was busy giggling over the pictures, “You guys are so _adorable_. Oh, what’s this one? You have your arms intertwined.” Peter showed a picture to Tony where Tony had slid his arm around James’ metal one, the two standing close. They looked like a couple and Tony swallowed that thought with reddening cheeks.

“Someone wanted to touch his metal arm so I stepped in.” Tony shrugged, “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Seriously, though, Tony. Do you like him?” Rhodey asked.

“Yeah, I like him. He’s funny, he’s handsome, he’s got a quick wit. What’s not to like?”

“Sure, but do you want to date him?” Peter asked, giving the phone back to Rhodey.

Tony shrugged, standing up and grabbing a banana from the counter. “Guys, it’s nothing. Really, just nothing. I’m going down to the workshop to finish off designs. Peter, you coming?”

“Yeah, I am. Can I just finish-“ The young kid pointed at his overfilled plate and Tony chuckled, nodding.

“Go on. I’ll be downstairs if anyone needs me.”

*

James woke up the morning after, huddled on the edge of his bed with the blanket scrunched up in his hands. Releasing the blanket from his hands, he smoothed it out over himself, burying his head into the pillow. There was a distinct ache in his head and he groaned, rubbing his forehead.

Drinks last night. Brooklyn burgers. Tony.

James smiled, despite the pain, and sat up. He stretched his muscles, groaning in pain at the stiff pain in his back. Last night had been wonderful. He stood up, grabbed his shower bag and went to the bathroom.

He managed to avoid the others, he _knew_ they would want to pin him and talk to him about last night, but for now he wanted to enjoy the memory. Showering helped with the headache. The burning water soothed the pain in his back a little bit. Thinking about the way Tony had looked last night also helped. He had such bright, brown eyes that sparkled when he talked. _Oh man,_ James thought, _I’m gone._

He stayed a bit longer than needed to in the shower, loving the heat but padded back to his room carefully with a towel wrapped around his hips. Outside his room stood Steve and Sam, both with their arms crossed. Steve looked more serious whereas Sam was grinning at him, ready to tease.

“Morning, guys. Can I at least get dressed before y’all start giving me shit?”

Steve broke his serious face and chuckled a bit, “Yeah, sure. But we want to talk to you.”

“When do you not? I’m famous.” James joked and went into his room. Drying off and getting dressed, he put his hair up in a bun again and let the other two men inside.

“What’s up?” James leant against the nightstand of his room, letting Sam and Steve sit on the edge of his bed.

“How was your night last night? You didn’t come back with the rest of us.” Sam smirked, “Where did you and Tony end up going?”

“We got food ‘cause I don’t like Shrimp that much and I picked up my jacket from his place. It wasn’t that exciting and nothing happened, so you can wipe that smirk off your face.” James sighed but was smiling as he talked.

“He’s doing it again.” Sam said in a sing-song voice, laughing.

“You’re getting quite close with Tony, though, B- James.” Steve said then.

“I don’t know about ‘close’. I like spending time with him.” James shrugged, “And yes, I did have fun last night, Sam, I know you’re dying to ask that.” He pointed at his other best friend who held his hands up with a grin.

“No, it’s just. Has he said anything about me? About the others?” Steve bit his lip, clearly nervous.

James’ smile faded and he sighed. He did _talk_ with Tony about the others. But it wasn’t anything like ‘ _Of course I’d love to meet with them’_.

“Not really.”

Steve looked down, nodding. “It’s been so long.”

“Not long enough for him, apparently. I’m telling you, it’s better to wait than to try and talk to him.” Sam said, putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder but looked up at James, “What time did you come in last night, by the way?”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t looking at the time. Why?”

“Wanda says you came by at like one o’clock in the morning. That’s quite late.”

“Well, I had to get all the way from downtown Manhattan to outside New York City, you know. Long trip.” James nodded, letting his head rest against the wall. “What was Wanda doing up so late, anyway?” He stuck his tongue out at Sam.

Steve piped up then, tight voice, “She couldn’t sleep. She’s been having trouble sleeping.”

“Okay? We all have?” James shrugged, “She’ll get used to it.”

“The Agent that dropped us off back said that Doctor Strange would come by at one point this week to try and train her. I hope all works out.” Steve sighed. James honestly couldn’t even understand Steve’s attachment to her. It’s not like she was a helpless child.

“That ought to be good, then.”

 *

 Agent Adams stood in Tony’s workshop, notepad in hand and grimace on his face. “So, we picked apart the doom-bots that you fought. This isn’t good news, by far. So, most of them are regular bots without anything special. Quite easy to defeat. Also, you should see the ones Barnes ripped apart, like _Jesus Christ_. Anyway, there are a few ones that were more suspicious. The ones with the red eyes. There were also two missing. We found 198, which is rather specific. The bots with the red eyes however have a different mechanism inside their bodies and a different hard-drive. It’s a collective hard-drive they all share. The most likely scenario is that Doom built these ones to record the Avengers’ fighting style and re-build his army to match you. Might not be what happened, might be. For now, this is all the information we have. I brought you a non-red eye and a red eye for you to look at. We could _really_ use your help.”

By the end of it, Agent Adams just looked _done._

“Not a big fan of robots, Agent?”

“Not particularly. Can you help us?”

“Sure. Just convenient I have the kid here to help me. Thank you for stopping by, Agent.”

“No problem.” The Agent walked over to the table with wheels he had brought with him, covered in white with two suspicious bodies under it. Who ever said SHIELD was subtle, was wrong. The Agent pulled off the sheet to reveal the two damaged bodies, almost identical at first glance.

“This will be fun. Friday, can you call Peter down?” Tony walked over to the bodies, inspecting them slowly.

“Thank you so much, Mister Stark. Call me once you know more.” Agent Adams left with a curt nod.

Tony removed the masks from the heads then put on his gloves just as Peter came rushing into the workshop.

“Robots? There’s robots?” He grinned, running over to the table.

Tony chuckled at the young teen’s energy, bouncing all over the place. “Yeah, Shield wants us to inspect these. See what’s difference and find out what Doom planned with these weak robots.”

“Oh, that’s so awesome. May I?” Peter went to the red-eyed robot, picking up some tools.

Tony nodded, taking apart the head of the robot, revealing its interior working. He let out a low laugh, “This is so _primitive_. Doom put no effort into these bots, like at all.”

Peter followed suit, opening up the head of the red-eyed robot. Tony stood next to him as Peter extracted the delicate brain-formed hard-drive. “This, on the other hand, looks more promising.” The two exchanged excited smiles and started analysing the hard-drive with Friday running scans over the bodies.

 *

 James stood in the kitchen, cooking lunch for himself. Cooking was something he’d picked up again. He knew how to cook basics from when he was younger; he knew how to cook appropriate for the 30s. Modern day meals looked much more promising and so he tackled new-found meals from all around New York City. Right now, he was just cooking some regular pasta.

Wanda and Clint walked into the kitchen, chattering about something. James paid no attention to them whatsoever. “Wanda, this will be exciting! You’ll get to learn and train, aren’t you curious?”

“What does this wizard think he can do that I can’t?” Wanda huffed angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. James was so _tempted_ to tell her just exactly what Strange could do- James knew from reading Strange’s file alone that Wanda was no match for him- but chose to focus on the cooking.

“He’s Master Sorcerer. Don’t be so childish.” Clint didn’t sound like a doting parent anymore, and James was curious to see where _this_ would lead to.

“I’m not childish. I just don’t think I need training! Why can’t they trust me?”

“Wanda, really. You know why. Just take the training, you have nothing to lose. If it turns out you’re stronger than him, great. If it turns out you aren’t, even better because then you can learn and improve. You need to build trust, you can’t demand it.” Clint sounded weary and tired.

“It’s not my fault shit went wrong side up.” Wanda sounded like she didn’t care and James guessed that was because she _didn’t_ care.

“Yes, it is. It’s your fault, it’s my fault. We all share blame. Just accept it and grow from it. I know you can become better than you are. There’s always chance for growth.” Now, Clint sounded like he was bargaining.

Wanda just stormed out, huffing and muttering to herself.

Clint sighed, leaning against a counter. “What’cha cookin’, Barnes?”

“Pasta. I’m making carbonara sauce with it.” James answered, taking the pot to the sink and draining the pasta. He set the pot on the stove, next to the spot where it had been and started the sauce in another pan.

“It smells delicious.” Clint said after a while, still standing there.

Finally, James looked up at the other man. Clint looked tired and weary, which didn’t mean much. Most of the Rogue Avengers weren’t sleeping well at night.

“Things not going so well with Maximoff, I take it?” James really tried to sound as neutral as he could.

“No, it’s really not. She doesn’t see how she could benefit from another person’s magic experience.” Clint sounded frustrated, more than anything.

“Yeah, it sounds like she thinks she’s the best.”

“She can’t see the bigger picture.”

Steve walked in, frowning. “Did you guys talk to Wanda? She seems really upset.”

James rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. He didn’t say a _word_ to her. Clint however nodded, “Yeah. I’m just trying to get her to see that she could benefit from a teacher.”

“I agree, I think it’s a great idea. Why is she upset?” Steve frowned, leaning next to Clint.

“Because a teacher means there’s someone more powerful than her and she’s used to us mere mortals.” James said, dropping any restraint and letting his sarcasm out. “And she can’t have that. She needs to be the most powerful at all times.” He nodded, closing his eyes. “She can’t possibly fathom having a superior, oh no, that won’t do.” He shook his head, finishing off the sauce.

He looked over at the two men, Clint trying not to laugh and Steve looking frustrated. “Wait, you agree with me? Usually you’d be yelling by now at how good a kid she is.” He huffed, taking out a plate and serving himself pasta and sauce.

“I would. But, recently she’s said some things that worry me.” Steve confessed. Clint walked closer slowly to James, hopeful smile on his face.

“You think I could get some of that sauce? It smells _so good_ and I’m starving.”

“No.” James smirked as he started eating. Steve gave him a stern look and James rolled his eyes, “Fine. You can have some food, bird-brain.”

Clint grinned and served himself some pasta, eating it quickly and hungrily.

“What has she said that made _you_ worry? I mean she’s said some pretty stupid things anyway, but-“ James left the rest of the sentence unsaid. Steve knew how James felt towards the witch.

“Just, things. About Tony. About you. About the council. She thinks you’re ‘switching sides’ to Tony and the Council. She’s said that she would leave and nothing could stop her. That way of talking, it was like last year all over again. I don’t want that.”

“I can’t switch sides, ‘cause there aren’t any. But yeah, that’s pretty dumb. Well, I for one cannot wait for Strange to show up and show her up.” James finished his pasta, setting the plate down and turned to leave. “Oh and Barton, since you had food and didn’t help cook it, would you mind cleaning up?”

Clint, rather than huffing, smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Thanks again, Barnes.”

“Right.” James left the kitchen, smiling. Steve and Barton are finally seeing Maximoff for what she really is.

 *

 Tony knew he had a reputation. He was many things and people described him all sorts of ways. He knew for most of his life he had been a playboy and he wasn’t ashamed of it. Never been ashamed, never been shy. When women were interested, he knew it. When men were interested, he knew it. When he was interested in others, he’d let them know. It was easy, it was fun, it was simple.

So, Tony really didn’t know how he ended up here, sitting in front of his phone, nervous. Nervous. Texting had been second nature to Tony, using his phone had been as natural as breathing before Siberia. _After_ Siberia, however, things weren’t so easy. He’d invented gloves so he could still be a mechanic, an engineer, that’s who he was. But using his phone was different.

Usually, he’d have Friday to navigate it and that was it. But he missed using the phone in his hand, being able to type as quick as lightning. Able to feel the smooth glass under his fingers as he took a selfie or wrote an e-mail. It was the normalcy of it, that he really missed.

Taking the phone in his hand, he struggled to use his fingers. He could twitch them, he’d gotten that back after a year and a few months, but that was about as much as he could use it. “Friday, can you open my phone and started a text message to Jimothy?”

_“Of course, sir. What do you want me to write?”_

Tony would be lost without his AI. “Write, ‘Hey Jimothy, how’s it going? I hope you don’t have a hangover, although if you do that would be very interesting. I hope you enjoyed last night.’” He thought out loud and watched Friday type out the message.

“No, no, erase. Delete the last sentence. Write, ‘Did you enjoy the Gala?’” He bit his lip, looking at the words. “Write, ‘Thank you for showing me Brooklyn burgers. I hope your arm is working well.’ How does that sound, Fri?”

_“It sounds conversational, sir.”_

“Yeah, you’re right, erase it all.” Tony sighed, letting the phone slip next to him. “It’s like I’m a teenager all over again. I can’t even text properly.”

_“I’m sorry, boss. If it helps to know, James Barnes is writing a message to you right now.”_

Tony bit his lip, picking up the phone again. “Really?”

_“Yes, really. Although you don’t need me for that, that’s what ‘Jimothy is typing…’ means, boss.”_

“When did I program you to be _so sassy_?” Tony grumbled, watching the screen.

A text appeared on the empty chat between him and James.

 **Hey, Tony. I really enjoyed last night, I hope you did too. Things at the Compound are slowly changing, it’s not so bad anymore. How is your day going?** [Sent at 5:47 pm]

Tony smiled, like an idiot, starring at the text.

_“Sir, what do you want to reply?”_

“Oh, right, right. Uh, Write-“

 **Hey, Jimothy. Last night was great! Thank you for the burgers. I’m glad to read that things are changing. I got to spend the day looking at doom’s shitty robots. It was quite fun, actually. What ‘things’ are changing, if you don’t mind me asking?** [Sent at 5:53 pm]

 **Doom’s shitty robots? Why? :p Steve’s not sucking up to Maximoff anymore. Barton’s changing his tune as well.** [Sent at 5:56 pm]

 **Oh my god are you using emojis?** [Sent at 5:56 pm]

 **Not that that’s wrong. That’s beautiful, continue. :D** [Sent at 5:57 pm]

 **SHIELD wants to know why they’re so shitty basically. Is Maximoff losing her fanbase? Why?** [Sent at 5:57 pm]

 **Natasha showed them to me :) yeeh Strange is supposed to come in and teach her. She doesn’t like that.** [Sent at 5:58 pm]

 **That should be interesting at least. BTW, were you hungover this morning?** [Sent at 5:59 pm]

 **BTW?** [Sent at 6:00 pm]

 **Means ‘by the way’. Romanoff showed you emojis and not abbreviations? Oh god.** [Sent at 6:01 pm]

 **I’m just joking, I know what it means :P** [Sent at 6:02 pm]

 **Big prankster, answer the question.** [Sent at 6:03 pm]

 **What for? :P** [Sent at 6:03 pm]

 **Science.** [Sent at 6:04 pm]

 **I had a headache but otherwise, not much. You?** [Sent at 6:04 pm]

 **No Hangover. I only had 5 drinks, and then we had food and tea so that was nice.** [Sent at 6:05 pm]

“Tony! We want to cook dinner, come join us!” Rhodey called out from the kitchen and Tony walked from the living room over to the kitchen, sitting down at the kitchen island, still looking at his phone.

“What’cha doing?” Peter grinned from where he was cutting vegetables.

“I’m texting.” Tony shrugged, “What are _you_ doing?”

“I’m helping cook dinner. Who are ya texting?”

“Peter, you don’t need to ask that. We all know who he’s texting.” Rhodey laughed from where he was standing at the oven.

“Where’s Pepper?” Tony sighed, leaning his hand on his left hand.

“She couldn’t make it, meeting ran over.” Peter said as he cut the vegetables precisely.

Tony’s phone buzzed with a new message.

 **It was really nice. We should go back again, soon.** [Sent at 6:10 pm]

Tony smiled brightly at his phone and Peter peeked over. Tony covered the phone with his hand and Peter beamed at his mentor. “Aw, that’s really sweet! You guys going on another date?”

“It wasn’t a date!” Tony sighed.

“What’s happening?” Rhodey asked, turning to look over his shoulder.

“Tony and Barnes are going on a date again.” Peter chuckled.

“Ooh” Rhodey grinned and Tony shook his head, “You guys are awful. Just terrible, really.”

“Go on, reply. Say yes.” Peter grinned and Tony sighed.

“Friday, reply to Jimothy, ‘That sounds nice. When would you want to go?”

Silence fell over the kitchen as Peter finished cutting the vegetables and handed them over to Rhodey who threw them into the pot, mixing everything together.

Tony’s buzzed with a new message.

 **Friday? I can come by at 7 and we can go from there.** [Sent at 6:14 pm]

            **Sounds great! Can’t wait.** [Sent at 6:16 pm]

Tony bit his lip, trying not to smile like an idiot but Peter’s encouraging smile was contagious and so he smiled.

 Things were good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't as long or in-depth as I wanted to write it but I have a HUGE exam tomorrow (Monday) so for now, this will do. But! next chapter will both feature Strange v. Wanda and more WinterIron again! Thank you!


	7. Live Today and Live Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange V Wanda. James and Tony go on a ...date? Unsure of the implications but hopeful, they eat together and feelings manifest as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. Okay. Long, long chapter. A lot is happening. A LOT. Because it's so long, it's 'split' into two. Well, i put in two quotes to signify the '2nd part' but its just a really long chapter and i like putting in quotes i think signify what's up :D  
>  I tried to write it as best and edit it but I'll post it today and come back and reread it and see if anything needs changing. Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and thoughts!!!!!   
> Also, I'm terrible at summaries so i'll work on that haha

_“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”_ _-Epicurus_

James Barnes knew he was petty and could be somewhat malicious. He never claimed to be an angel or a saint, but he knew he could be generous as well. When it came to his enemies, he tried to do what his mother told him and put himself in their shoes. Before he was captured by HYDRA, that is exactly what he did. But then they took him and molded him into a killing machine, destroying every last bit of his humanity. When he reconnected with Steve, he reconnected with his past but it wasn’t until after Wakanda that he started feeling like himself.

Or whatever that meant.

So, he knew he was petty.

Which is why he found himself in this situation.

Doctor Strange, Master Sorcerer, had accepted the Council’s request to train Wanda. Wanda, in return, had been an absolute _pest_ to live with, especially after her talk with Clint in the kitchen. Realizing that she was losing the support of her closest friends, she panicked. James sensed this change in demeanour of her confidence and pity to panic and anxiety.

And he would feel bad for her, he would.

It was a day before Strange would train Wanda and two days before his [ _Is it a date? I did ask him out. It’s a date. What if he doesn’t know it’s a date?_ ] with Tony and James found himself in the Training Hall of the Compound.

A square, large hall with bright lighting with a boxing ring in the middle and around it various work-out machines. In one corner were the punching bags and other kinds to punch and around it were various types of training machines. James didn’t know what they did and he found he didn’t need them. He stuck to the boxing ring, punching bags and running.

James, tense and anxious from the nightmare he had and so hyper-aware of his surroundings, heard Wanda come in and turned around, clenching his fists. He looked at her expectantly, raising his eyebrows.

“James, I feel we got off on the wrong foot. Not that that’s really my fault, it’s you who is hostile but Steve told me we should talk things out”

James huffed, turning back to the punching bag. It would be one of _those_ talks. He hadn’t loved Clint coming to him but Wanda? Please.

“Please, listen to me. I’m trying to set things right. God knows why _I_ have to be the grown up but I’m willing.” She said, walking closer and closer. James could tell she didn’t mean it. He continued to stay silent.

“At least look at me when I’m trying to talk to you. Look, I know I did wrong in the past but honestly, so has everyone of you. Who are _you_ to judge me for what I did? You know better than anyone that people’s pasts shouldn’t define them.” Wanda scoffed and came to stand a few feet away from James, in front of the wall.

James stopped hitting the punching bag, looking at her with thunderous eyes. “Are you done talking or do you want spout some more shit?” He hissed, holding the punching bag still with his right hand.

“Finally! At least you’re looking at me.” Wanda rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, “Now, Steve says I should be the one to apologise for how I acted towards you in the last few months but honestly, I think you should apologise to me. You’ve acted cold and hostile, and I’ve never done anything to you. Anyway, I feel like you shouldn’t judge me based on my past. Hydra experimented on us _both_ and we are both victim!”

James was both embarrassed and proud to say that the next few moments, he lost slight control with the witch. In one swift movement, he flicked his left wrist at her, throwing the knife and lodging it into the wall, directly next to her head. She had gasped, moving her hands up but there was only dull red spark in her fingers, not as bright or active as he remembered. James noticed and smirked, jumping forward, pinning her to the wall with no patience or pity. He pulled out the knife from next to her, enjoying the _fear_ in her eyes and put the knife back in his wrist.

“Don’t compare yourself to me, witch.” James hissed, turning around to walk away. Wanda grabbed James’ shoulder, red sparks starting to manifest. He grabbed her arm and threw her over his shoulder, slamming her body onto the floor before she could continue. She cried out in pain but he held her there.

“Don’t ever touch me. Keep that magic-shit away from me.”

“What is happening?” Wanda struggled to stand up quickly and back away from James, who had let go and stood back.

“What’s the matter? Your magic deserted you?” James huffed, walking back to the punching bag, trying to pretend as if nothing had happened. His hands were shaking though, his heart beating erratically and he could feel an ugly shadow in the back of his mind.

“I-I-“ Wanda stared at her hands with fear and confusion then at James. She held her fingers in the air, twirling them but the red magic diminished more and more. She glared at James, “You’ll regret this. I tried to talk to you, and you attack me!”

“Cry me a river. It’s not like you have any power over me. Seems like your powers don’t work here, witch. Why don’t you go cry at Stevie before I throw another knife at you. This time, I won’t be as _kind_ as to miss.” James hissed, flicking his wrist and extending the knife to the palm of his hand. “You can’t mind-control me.”

Wanda glared at him, such intensity in her eyes but flicked her coat and moved to leave but two Agents barged through the gym and stopped in front of Wanda. But before they could say anything, she snapped at them.

“Why can’t I use my powers?! _What_ did you do?!”

The Agent on the left answered, “Spell from Doctor Strange. Prevents use of chaos magic within the Compound, gives us an alert when it is attempted.”

“He can do that? That’s not fair!” Wanda hissed, “You don’t trust me at all, do you?”

“I don’t have any reason to, Maximoff. Seeing as you tried to use your powers here, and you didn’t pass any of our evaluations, we need to investigate what happened. Barnes, would you mind?” The agent waved James over.

James sighed, sliding the knife into his arm and walked over calmly. He couldn’t just once work out without anything happening?

“He attacked me! I was trying to apologise and talk about things, and he _just_ attacked me.” Wanda crossed her arms over her chest, looking down.

James sighed, holding up his hands. “I simply defended myself against an ex-Hydra agent who was using manipulation tactics on me. I didn’t know she couldn’t use her magic, she has a track record of using it to get what she wants. I overreacted.” He said, but he didn’t believe he overreacted. Honestly, it was worth anything to see that look of fear on Wanda’s face.

The Agent on the right wrote down what they said, looking between Wanda and James. “You two are volatile together. We’ll talk to the higher ups about maybe separating your living arrangements. Or we’ll wait until the training, see what happens.” The way the Agent said ‘training’ implied it was anything but. James recognised the Agent when she looked up. She had been there when Wanda had been rejected from active field duty. Her name was Agent O’Riley.

“But honestly, Maximoff, you didn’t think we’d just _let_ you have full control of your powers after what you’ve done? You’re volatile, untrustworthy, temperamental. Who knows what you could do, given the chance? You didn’t even pass our psych evaluations, you’re not safe to be around.” The Agent shook her head in disbelief.

To be honest, James was just glad that Wanda hadn’t attempted to use her powers on him until now. Knowing she couldn’t use her powers now though gave him a smug feeling.

“He has a knife in his arm! How is _he_ allowed a knife in his arm!” Wanda pointed at James, like a petulant _child_.

“Tony Stark built me this arm. He built it in.” James rubbed his wrist, where the knife would come out of the palm of his hand. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory of Tony and Peter assembling his arm.

“Did he? How is Mister Stark doing these days?” The Agent smiled and Wanda, storming out of the room, huffed about the whole situation being _unfair_.

But James rested better knowing that at least SHIELD didn’t trust her.

*

James knew that whatever Wanda told Steve, his reaction would be probably ‘ **Freedom!** ’.

He caught the end of their conversation, silent and hiding. Wanda, crying soft tears, was complaining about _freedom_ and _rights_.

 _Surely, that would get Steve fired up_ , James thought. Instead, Steve shook his head.

“Trust must be regained, Wanda. Not expected. They took my shield and I can only have it on missions. And for once-“ Steve hesitated, “I agree. We did terrible things, tore apart the Avengers. I tore them apart. I don’t agree that they stripped you of your entire powers and I’ll try and talk to them, but you’re not even cleared to leave the Compound, Wanda. You failed all of their evaluations and assessments. You’re not safe for civilians to be around, that’s what they said.”

“Steve! They stripped me of my identity! Without my magic, I have nothing.”

Steve shook his head again, looking tired and pitying. “If you pass training with Doctor Strange, that’s a step in the right direction. You’ll regain their trust. I’m sorry, Wanda, there’s nothing I can do to help you.” He turned away from her and walked away.

James was honestly shocked and happy at the same time. Walking quietly away from Wanda, he followed Steve to his room. Steve left the door open, sitting on his bed and looking up at James.

“I _am_ sorry I attacked her.” James said once he closed the door behind him.

“No, you aren’t.” Steve sighed, lying down on his bed.

“No, I’m not.” James walked over, sitting on the edge of Steve’s bed. “She did say awful stuff that just got me _so_ mad. I should work on that.”

“Yeah, you should.” Steve closed his eyes. James looked at his oldest friend and honestly, James felt _terrible_. He didn’t know why, but seeing Steve look _tired_ and _defeated_ was wrong.

“Why aren’t you waging war on Shield? They took Maximoff’s powers away.” James laid down next to his friend.

“I would. I don’t think it’s their right to do that.” Steve balled his fist and sighed, letting go. Deflating. “But I waged war on Tony because I believed something wasn’t his right to do something and look what happened. Not only was I wrong, but it cost me everything.”

“Not _everything_. You’ve got me and Sam. But yeah, we fucked up. So, waiting to find out more information?”

“Not this time. I think, for now, we just have to bear our punishment. Wanda, as well. She doesn’t seem to understand that what we did, was wrong. It was terrible, people got hurt.” Steve shook his head.

“Oy, Steve. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’ve gotta learn from it and move on. It’s a great feeling once you have the burden lifted off of you.”

“Is that why you’ve been so much happier lately? You’re not as grumpy as usual.” Steve peeked at James through one eye.

“Maybe. Since Tony’s forgiven me, it’s so much easier to grow. Knowing he doesn’t hold anything against me is mind-blowing. I’ve been doing this project where I research all the ‘ _missions’_ I had as Winter Soldier. I can only remember them as objects, so I’ve been researching them as people. That’s been helping a lot, too.”

Steve turned on his side, smiling. “Really? Aw, Buck- I mean James. Sorry. That’s really nice.”

“You really can’t get over calling me Bucky, huh?” James chuckled a bit, teasing him.

“No, of course I can! I just keep thinking of you as Buck. I promise, I’ll do better.” Steve looked genuinely embarrassed and apologetic.

“Ah, what the hell. You can call me Bucky. But you’re the only one and I’m only letting you because I’m nice.”

“I will try to call you James, though.” Steve nodded with a bright smile.

“I know. Until then.” James waved his hand dismissively.

“Thanks, James.”

*

The day passed by all the quicker now that there was this _tension_ in the Compound. Wanda, sulky and angry, was everywhere where James turned. The others noticed, too. Sam made a point of hanging by James’ side and Steve tried to play peace-keeper. Natasha kept to the shadows as she mostly did, keeping to herself and away from others. Scott Lang, allowed to leave the Compound, left for the entire day. He didn’t want to be there when it went down. Clint, when confronted by Wanda, just simply shook his head and walked away from her.

“I can’t help you, kid.” Was what he said.

And when Doctor Strange entered the Compound, there was this sort of _whoosh_ and it felt all the more lighter. The Rogue Avengers were assembled in the living room with three Agents- Sharon, O’Riley and another one name Burke- when Strange strolled in.

A tall man with dark hair and grey streaks, wearing a red cloak that seemed to move on its own will and clothing that James thought were only fit for _wizards_ , Strange was everything he imagined a mage to look like.

“Good Evening, Rogues.” Strange’s voice itself had a certain tone to it. James could only imagine how much Strange would hate them all. “I am here to train Wanda Maximoff.”

Wanda stood up, looking _shy_ of all things, “That’s me. I’m Wanda. It’s good to meet you.” She reached forward to shake his hand.

Strange shook her hand firmly, “Very well, then. Shall we? Where would you like to start?”

“We prepared a special room for training. If you don’t mind, follow me.” Sharon said and started walking. Strange and Wanda followed her, both silent as they sized each other up.

As soon as the three were out of the room, O’Riley grinned, “Let’s watch.”

Burke turned to her with a worried expression, “We shouldn’t. We’re not technically allowed.”

“Come on, Burke, It’ll be the ass-kicking of the year.” O’Riley chuckled and waved at the others.

“Ass-kicking? I thought it’s supposed to be training!” Steve huffed.

“Of course it is. But Strange is not a patient man and there’s a bet that Wanda won’t last ten minutes before she attacks him.” O’Riley shrugged and started walking. The Rogues followed, all of them, even Natasha.

“That’s cruel. You shouldn’t be making bets on her.” Steve frowned.

“Maybe. But she’s not a patient woman either and she’s been acting like the Queen of the Century.” O’Riley rolled her eyes, leading them down the corridor that led to the Gym. She stopped before a door, scanned her key-card against the scanner and led them all in. From where they stood in the room, there was a Window and they could see a big room from above it.

Strange and Wanda were standing in the middle, Sharon nowhere in site. The room they stood in was covered in mats and nothing else, giving the two lots of rooms.

Sharon walked into the room, stopped when she saw them all and sighed. “O’Riley?”

“It was too good to miss, Carter.” O’Riley grinned and Sharon shook her head but didn’t say anything. She walked over to the desk in front of the big window, pressing a button on the mic.

“Begin.”

The Rogue Avengers and the two agents crowded around the desk, watching the scene from below.

“I’ll take off the spell for now, so you can use your magic. Let’s begin the training, then.” Strange said, writing in the air and ancient runes appeared mid-air, in spinning circles that looked like fire to James.

“Finally.” Wanda sighed, igniting her hands with red sparks. “It feels so good to have this back. What do you think you can teach me?”

“It depends on what you know already. I’ve seen footage of you in action. You’re sloppy, slow and your defence is weak.” Strange listed, sounding bored already. “You have a good offensive but it could use work and training. That’s what I’m here for.”

Wanda clenched her fists but stayed stood still. “I’m not sloppy.”

“Yes, you are. No one is born a perfect fighter, if that’s your concern. Alright, begin a fighting stance.” Strange walked around her.

She grinned, moving her feet to be more balanced and lifted her fingers, red sparks fluttering around her fingers.

Strange did the same thing, conjuring up ancient runes with images that James couldn’t begin to describe. It looked beautiful, though. Much more than Wanda’s red angry magic. Strange duplicated himself, hovering them a few feet away from where the two were stood.

“Give it your best shot.” He motioned for Wanda to attack the two Strange Duplications.

Wanda threw a ball of red, curled up magic at one of the Strange’s, lifting him and smashing him against the other. She pinned them down, her red magic swirling all around them. She didn’t do anything else except hold them down, choking them. She was smirking, “Easy. Give me something more difficult.”

“Slow. Sloppy. Try again.” Was all Strange said, releasing the two Strange’s from the red magic that had encompassed them, setting them up again. She looked extremely frustrated, agitated, like she didn’t think this was worth it.

On the third attempt, Wanda threw her hands up after Strange told her to do it again. “What am I doing possibly wrong?!” She yelled at him, turning on Strange.

“You’re not as fast as you think. Your magic is as feeble as a toothpick. I could pick it apart in a second.” Strange narrowed his eyes at her.

“There’s nothing wrong with my magic. My magic is perfectly fine. I don’t think there’s anything you can teach me.” Wanda huffed, raising an eyebrow. She raised her hands, red sparks fluttering in the palms of her hands.

Strange raised an eyebrow in return, looking at her unimpressed. “If you’re going to attack me because you can’t take directions, then go ahead. Follow up on your threat, Maximoff. At least do it with a stance I can’t knock you off your feet with.” He kicked her feet wider apart, moving her hands wider apart.

She hissed something beneath her breath, moving to touch his head with her red fingers but he took her hands with one hand, slamming his other hand into her stomach. Her body was flung backwards extremely slowly, her [ _Soul? Spirit?_ James thought, gaping at the scene] left her body, floating behind it. She looked horrified, trying to reach for her body but caught sight of herself and gasped at her fingers.

Strange closed his fist and she regained her body, gasping and falling to her knees.

“ _What_ was that?!” She yelled, jumping up again.

“That was your astral form outside your physical form.” Strange said calmly, walking around her. “You have no idea the depths of magic, do you? That’s not your fault, though. I haven’t even begun teaching you.”

“That’s the last thing I want. Get away from me. You don’t know me.” Wanda lifted her hand, throwing a gust of red magic at the Sorcerer.

Strange conjured two shields instantly, the red magic bouncing off of it. “You don’t have a choice in this. I either teach you, or-“

“Or what? What could they do to me that would be worse?! You stripped me of my magic!” Wanda yelled angrily, bunching up her fists. She resembled an angry child. A dangerous, magic child.

“They could do much worse. They’re still giving you chances to become a full Avenger. I don’t see why they bother. You don’t even want to learn. And I thought I was a bad student!” Strange huffed, “This was a complete waste of time. You’re never going to reach a serious level of magic if you don’t realise that you don’t know everything. You have such _arrogance_ that you think you can’t be defeated. It will cost you dearly if you continue.”

“It will cost _you_ dearly if you stand in my way!” Wanda yelled, holding up her hands with fingers extended. Red magic lit up the room as she conjured it.

“Mind control?” Strange raised an eyebrow, “Ah. I see.” He walked closer, looking intently at her fingers. He raised his own hands, pushing them forward slowly, conjuring up two giant runes. “I should have checked this first, really.” The two runes focused on the magic, absorbing the magic from her fingers.

“What are you _doing_!!” Wanda cried out, her hands extended in front of her. “Stop it!”

Steve held James’ arm tightly, “Is he hurting her?!”

“No, he’s not. I’ve seen this before.” Sharon said, a dark look on her face.

“You-you- truly have no concept of consent, Maximoff. You really tried this?!” Strange said angrily.

Wanda narrowed her eyes, trying to pull her hands back from the runes but couldn’t move them. “I won’t let you get away with this.” She hissed, bunching up her fists and red magic enveloped them. A second later, there was an explosion and both Strange and Wanda were flung backwards.

Wanda landed on her back, groaning in pain. Strange was floating mid-air, conjuring up more runes. “You are truly despicable, Maximoff. I will make sure you cannot hurt anyone again.”

“Oh yeah? How are you going to do that? Another spell? I can just leave!” Wanda struggled to get up, turning to the wall and spreading her hands from fists to fully extended, red magic bursting through the walls and into the outside.

Strange flew [ _Flying? Jesus._ James thought] over to Wanda, floating behind her. Within seconds, Wanda turned around, red magic twirling with black spots in between the red. Strange put his hands on her head, expanding away from her.

“No-“ Wanda gasped and collapsed in his arms. Catching her, he landed. He laid her down gently on the floor, closing her eyes. He looked up at the window with a sigh, “She’ll wake up in an hour. I have some bad news.”

*

After carrying Wanda back to her room, Strange walked to the living room where the others were waiting. Steve held his hands together, rubbing each finger anxiously. Clint was standing in the corner, looking down. Sam had been silent throughout everything, sitting with James next to Steve. Natasha was hunched up on the edge of the couch. The two agents stood behind Sharon, solemn faces.

Strange stood in front of them, conjuring up a rune that transformed into a square mirror. “What you are about to see, I’m truly sorry. I’m afraid Wanda Maximoff has been using her magic to infiltrate your minds and controlling you. Once she came to the Compound, her magic wore off due to my ward spell. Look for yourselves.” He motioned for the mirror. “I took a sample of her magic, suspecting something was wrong.”

The mirror showed Wanda, in a place that James didn’t recognise.

“That was after Ultron. Sokovia. She switched to our side.” Steve frowned, watching Wanda talk to himself. What Steve didn’t see however was the dull glow of Wanda’s fingers, crossed behind her back. The magic slowly infiltrated Steve’s mind.

There was Tony, there was Bruce. Or what James thought, Bruce looked like. From Natasha’s reaction it _was_ Bruce. “That was before he left. I knew she manipulated him.”

The mirror scene changed to a scene at the airport. A talk Wanda and Steve had before the fight. Steve had been unsure about whether to fight Tony, if there wasn’t another way around it. He wanted to protect his best friend but couldn’t they find a solution? Wanda shook her head, fingers glowing with red.

“This is the only way. We must fight for our freedom. We must protect them from the truth.” Was what Wanda had said and Steve, at the time, had agreed completely. Looking on it now, seeing the red sparks on Wanda’s fingers, Steve shook his head, horrified.

The mirror scene changed to Wakanda. Wanda, talking to Clint. To Steve. Trying to talk to Sam, who ignored her for the most part. Trying to talk to James, who made his feelings towards her clear.

“Her magic was slowly working on you two, the most. The others were too indifferent or distrusting, it would have been obvious if she had targeted you.” Strange looked at Steve and Clint, who were both shocked, betrayed and angry, then at the rest. James clenched his fists, he had _known_ Wanda wasn’t trustworthy. Sam looked sick, holding a hand over his mouth in shock and Natasha’s face was blank. James knew though, she was truly disgusted, a slight twitch of her lips gave her away.

“Once at the Compound, she thought her magic had been successful so she didn’t attempt to use it again. Until, yesterday?” Strange looked at James who nodded.

“What did you do to her? She just sort of fainted.” Steve asked, trying to remain calm. James put his arm around his oldest friend, offering some comfort.

“Her magic is purely within her DNA, experimented on. It’s different to the rest of other Sorcerers, at least from what I’ve seen. I simply put in a mental block so she cannot regain her magic. Her magic still exists but she herself cannot use it again until I change it. I give her over to Shield. I believe you’ll find something to do with her.”

Sharon nodded silently. “I thought something as much, but I couldn’t have been sure. Thank you, Doctor.”

“Not a problem at all, Agent. I’m just happy to help. I am sorry about the discovery, I know betrayal can cut deep.” He looked at Clint and Steve, a truly apologetic look on his face and left, leaving everyone still shocked.

The three Agents left as well, walking to Wanda’s room. She was their responsibility now. _I hope she rots in jail_ , James thought to himself.

Steve stood up, looking down. “It does, but I should have been more sceptical towards her from the beginning. I’m sorry everybody. I have failed you as a leader and as friend.”

Clint stood up as well, shaking his head. “It’s not your fault, Cap. After Loki, I thought that maybe she wouldn’t be like him. Different. But she’s not.”

Natasha shook her head, still sitting on the couch. “She manipulated the two of you. You do not carry the burden of her choices. This wasn’t your fault, she is not your fault.”

Sam nodded, “She mind-controlled you. The definition of, it’s not your fault.”

*

After the reveal of Wanda’s doings, everyone was pretty shaken up. Steve didn’t leave his room, Clint was nowhere to be found. It was just Natasha and Sam that were really present in the Compound. James, proven right, took only little satisfaction in the reveal. Of course, it was great that she was exposed and they were rid of her. But the after-effect of it was nothing short of misery.

James felt like a stranger in the Compound, like he hadn’t before. No one talked about it, not Natasha or even Sam. It was like Wanda Maximoff had never existed to them. James couldn’t take it. He’d been there before. He knew all too well the terrible thoughts and feelings that followed after realization of brain-washing. You question your own thoughts, your own memories, your own identity. Were things really as you thought they were or had you been truly blind the whole time? It was awful.

Which was why, the Friday Morning, he made his way around to the other Rogue Avengers, intent on getting them to talk about it. Sam and Steve had been there for him, he would be there for the others.

It was easy to get Steve to talk, Steve was a _wreck_. In his room, he was laying on his bed, crying silently. James opened the door, closing it after walking in. “Stevie.” James sighed and walked over. “Talk to me.”

“I don’t know what to think.” Steve sat up, tears sliding down his cheeks, “I feel like I’m the cause for everything that went wrong.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there.” James put his hand on Steve’s shoulder, “And I did the exact same thing. Curled up in my own room, blaming myself for everything that went wrong. That’s not the healthy option to do though.”

“I just-“ Steve wiped away the tears on his face, “I was so _wrong_ about her. I thought I could take care of her, but I failed her, like I failed you, like I failed **everyone**. I keep failing everyone I care about, and it’s like I can’t do anything right.” Steve clenched his fists, tears sliding down his cheeks more and more. “And every chance I get, I can’t seem to do anything right.”

James wrapped his arms around his crying friend, pulling him close. He let him vent, cry and sob, while holding onto him. “What else have you been thinking about?” He asked softly. He knew it was better to let it all out, crying out every thought rather than keeping it in. It’s not like he was following his own advice, but when did he ever?

Steve curled into his best friend, trying to breathe and calm down. “When we found them, they were so _young_. 24. Same age I was, when I joined Project Rebirth. And of course they’d done wrong, but they had a chance to be heroes. And then Pietro, he sacrificed himself for Clint and a child. Wanda was an absolute _wreck_ and I promised her, I’d be there to help her. I wanted to help her.”

Steve took a deep breath, “But before Ultron, I had found you. I found you and lost you all together, all **over** again.” He sobbed, clenching his fist. “I should have jumped after you. I could have saved you from Hydra. I should have saved you. And then Pietro died, I wanted to make up to Wanda this loss she felt. It felt like I failed her. And then-then- those _fucking_ Accords. I didn’t want to lose you again- I _couldn’t_ lose you again and I was so fucking blinded-“ Steve clenched his fists, his voice tight and watery from crying and James held him close- “so blinded I didn’t see the damage I did until after it was done. And I can never take it back.” Steve sounded resigned, defeated, _tired._

“And then Tony brought us back. I thought, this was the chance. This was my chance to make everything right again if I could just- just everything went right-“ He broke off, sobbing into James’ arms. James felt tears blurry his vision but he blinked them away, holding Steve close.

“But of course. Of course. I should have known. I should have known. I should have believed you. I shouldn’t have trusted her so easily. I shouldn’t have _invited_ her to live with us. And it’s all on me. It’s all on me and I- I-“ Steve tried to talk but he broke off in tears, closing his eyes and trying to breathe but all he could do was inhale and exhale shallowly.

James rubbed the back of Steve’s head, “It’s okay, Steve. Let it out, it’s okay. I’m here for you.” He whispered.

“It’s all on me. And I feel this _ache_ \- this _pain_ \- and it’s so much. I can’t _sleep_ because there’s so much regret- so many people I failed. I wasn’t enough, I wasn’t _Captain America_ , the hero that saves everyone. I’m a fraud, I’m a _fake_ -“ Steve’s face was wet with tears but his voice sounded bitter and angry.

“People count on me and I fail them. What kind of hero am I? I’m not a hero. I failed you. I failed Tony. I failed Wanda. I failed Clint. I failed Natasha. I failed Sam. I failed everyone. I failed.” Steve sighed, shaky breath, and the tension in his body melted away in defeat.

James wiped away the tears from his eyes, holding Steve still in his arms. “Steve, you didn’t fail us-“

“Yes, I did, Buck. You know I did.” Steve mumbled.

“What Hydra did to me isn’t your fault. Steve, look at me.” James turned his best friend’s face and he looked him in his eyes. “It’s not your fault. Wanda is _not_ your fault. You trust too easily, you give second chances to people you believe can change. She betrayed your trust. You didn’t fail Clint, you didn’t fail Natasha or Sam. They followed you and Wanda manipulated you and them.”

Steve stayed silent after that, curled against James. “Thank you.” He mumbled and sighed. “I need to make up for everything I did.”

“How are you gonna do that?”

“I don’t know, but I will.”

“Okay, Steve. Rest now, though.” James stood up and Steve curled into the bed, “do you want me to stay?”

“No, I think I want to be alone. Good luck on your date with Tony.” Steve pulled the blanket tight around himself.

“It’s not a _date_.” James groaned and walked out of the room.

“Yes, it is!” Steve called after.

James sure hoped it was. He stopped by the door and turned around, “I’ll come by later to check on you.”

*

 

After his talk with Steve, James felt ready to crawl back into his bed and hide from the world. But he knew, he had to make sure Clint was alright. He knew best what it felt like to be manipulated.

Searching around the Compound for the bowman, he found him on the roof of all places. Clint was kneeling on the egde of the roof, looking out over the forest. James walked slowly towards him, “Barton? You alright over there?”

Clint turned around to look up at James with a sad smile. “I’m always alright.”

“No, you’re not. You can talk to me, if you want. Believe me, I know what it’s like being brain-washed.”

Clint sighed, turning back to look over the forest. “I thought she was different. I thought she wanted to be a hero. Be good. I thought she was _different_ from Loki. But she’s just like him.”

“Loki? That was when the chitauri invaded New York City?” James sat down next to him, close but not too close.

“Yeah. And Loki had me under his grip. His control. His magic. And I was so dumb as to think Wanda wouldn’t use her mind control. I felt _bad_ for her, her twin died to save me. I felt- still feel- guilty. Pietro was a good kid. Or maybe he wasn’t, I wouldn’t know.” Clint sounded bitter and hurt. James understood that feeling.

“I know you warned us, you warned me. And I snapped at you for it, multiple times. I’m really sorry, James. I-I genuinely thought she was different but I can see I was a fool. I have been a fool. A damn fool.” Clint looked at James then back at the forest, shaking his head.

“It’s not your fault. That’s why it’s called mind control. I don’t blame you for her actions. It’s tough to differentiate between your own choices and theirs when you don’t remember things. When you didn’t know you were being brain-washed or magic in your mind. I mean, how could you even compare? We’re not magic.” James thought aloud.

Clint nodded, “We’re really not. I don’t know, I just feel so damn foolish. But thank you for coming up here and talking to me. I know we’re not close.”

“Yeah but part of that was because I thought you were on Wanda’s side because you trusted her. Knowing now you were on her side because she manipulated you is quite different. I’m not one to hold grudges.” James shrugged. Usually, he would be, but not with brain-washing or mind-control. He knew better than anyone what that was like.

“I know, but still. I deserve it.”

“No, you don’t. Right now, your mind is a mess. It’ll take a while to settle. Don’t let it obscure your vision from the truth.”

The two men stayed next to each other in silence, looking over the compound and the forest.

“So. Super vision, huh?”

“Yeah but I’m deaf.” Clint pointed to his ear and James noticed his hearing aids.

“Huh. Is it bad when I say I never noticed?” James offered a dumb smile.

“Oh, don’t worry. Not many people do, I had them designed so they blend in.”

~

 

_"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." Lao Tzu_

The day had been a strenuous and emotionally exhausting one but James found comfort in his plans for the night. Letting the hot water wash over him, James leant against the shower wall. He washed his hair, his body, washing off the weight of the day and the burden of what happened.

The burden of what was said. The ache of emotional heart-to-hearts about things that cut deep. James felt both lighter and heavier than before and honestly, he couldn’t wait to go out with Tony.

Stepping out of the shower, he walked back to his room. Drying off, he put on sweatpants and a shirt, while thinking about what to wear. Two sharp knocks on the door, he opened the door.

Outside, stood Natasha, Sam, Steve and Clint. Sam looked the most excited, whereas the others tried to look excited. “We’re here to help you out with what to wear. We figured you were going to wear something terrible so we’re here to stop you.” Sam grinned, walking into James’ room and the others followed slowly.

“Thanks? I guess.” James chuckled and went back to his closet. “I don’t have many nice clothes so options are limited but I have _some_ clothes that aren’t casual.” Sam and Natasha walked to the closet as well, looking through.

Clint and Steve sat on the bed, ready to weigh in on the options with their opinion. James couldn’t help but laugh at the scene; mere hours ago two of them were a _wreck_ and the other two were ignoring everything. It’s nice that this group feels more and more like a group of friends rather than roommates.

Natasha pulled out a dark blue, button down while Sam pulled out James’ favorite black jeans. “With your leather jacket? I think it’s nice.” Sam smiled.

Clint and Steve nodded in agreement, tired and silent from the day.

“Oh! I can braid your hair again, if you want, Zajka.” Natasha grinned brightly. The memory of her combing through his hair, braiding it delicately had been nice. He nodded, taking the clothes.

The group left to go to the living room, leaving James to change in private. James smiled to himself after they left, changing into the slightly-nicer clothes. He took his shoes with him and leather jacket, walking into the living room. It was almost time to leave by the time Natasha was done with his hair. She had braided his shoulder-length hair into a bun again, two braids on each side.

He would feel foolish if it didn’t look so nice.

*

Tony Stark spent Thursday in the workshop, working on the gloves to be more efficient and flexible. If he continued to develop them, he was sure, he could wear them on a casual basis and regain mobility in his fingers. The thought was exciting.

That afternoon, Agent Adams came by. Sitting in the living room of the pent-house, Agent Adams cued up the TV and showed them security footage. “This morning, Doctor Strange went to the Compound in order to train Wanda Maximoff. This tape shows what happened next. Strange discovered that Wanda had manipulated Steve Rogers and Clint Barton in the past and was attempting to persuade all of the Rogue Avengers. She’s officially off of the Avengers and is instead now awaiting trial for her actions while Strange disabled her magic. But I thought It was important you saw what happened.”

Tony and Rhodey watched the scene unfold, Stephen and Wanda fight, and honestly by the end Tony was near tears. Rhodey had his arm wrapped around his best friend, holding him up. “I can’t believe- well, I can- that she was doing that.” Tony sighed.

“Yeah, considering her past, it’s very believable. Thank you for showing us, Agent. You okay, Tony?”

“Oh yeah. I’m more than okay.” Tony smiled brightly.

*

Next day, Tony was more than excited for the night. Trying to focus on his work was hard, his leg bouncing in an abundancy of energy. He couldn’t stop thinking about the night ahead but he also couldn’t stop thinking about Wanda Maximoff. She had terrified him to the bone, showing him his worst fear, and now, to find out that she had been manipulating Rogers the whole time was a bit confusing. How much were Steve’s actions his own? Wanda’s? He was too curious for his own good, Tony knew this, and kept remembering how he felt when he saw Rogers at the Gala.

His stomach had turned in fear.

Maybe it’s time for Tony to talk to Steve. To Cling. To Natasha. To clear things up. Was he ready to forgive? Probably not. Tony looked down at his hands, though he built gloves to help, he felt bereft and angry over the loss of his fingers. Blaming himself, blaming Rogers. The arc reactor in his chest brought back all the familiar problems that he thought he was rid off forever when he had it removed. To have it back, though he tried not to focus on it, was incredibly depressing.

The arc reactor, his fingers. Those had been the most personal things he lost during the ‘Civil War’. The most emotional things he had lost, though, were his teammates. Or, perceived team-mates.

After the ‘Civil War’, Rogers’ Rogues off the grid, Vision had left. Not able to stay after the loss of Wanda- were they truly in love or had it been another one of Wanda’s tricks- and the fight at the airport, Vision couldn’t handle it. And honestly, Tony didn’t blame him.  So, Vision was off-the-grid officially but SHIELD knew how to contact him if they needed him to defend earth.

And Tony knew Vision would be there.

Tony still had nightmares about the so-called ‘Civil war’. It felt like he would never get over it. Get rid of it.

Drifting off in thoughts, Tony sat back in his chair, holding his hands in each other palm’s. That’s when he got a new idea on how to help with his disabled fingers. He felt the familiar rush that came with a break-through-idea and rushed to the desk, wanting to sketch out his idea. His fingers wouldn’t cooperate-still not used to that feeling- and he slammed his hand angrily on the desk.

 _“Sir? If I may help?”_ Friday, sounding concerned, asked.

“Fuck it. Yeah, Fri, draw up a new scheme for Mark 3. Pull up the designs for Rhodey’s leg crutches.”

*

Tony stood up, stretching out his shoulders. “Fri, what time is it?”

_“6:30 pm”_

“Perfect. Save all designs under name ‘Mark 4a” Tony walked to the elevator as Rhodey stepped out of it. “Rhodes, what are you doing down here?” Tony grinned.

Rhodey looked at him for a moment then chuckled, “Making sure you were getting ready for your date and not forgetting about it, buried in work. But look at you, Barnes must be something else.” He grinned and the two walked into the elevator.

“It’s not a _date_.” Tony mumbled, looking down.

“Tony, yes it is. It _so_ is. Now, what will you wear or do I need to call Pepper?” Rhodey clapped Tony on his shoulder.

Tony chuckled, “Please, my fashion choices are legendary.”

The two exited the elevator, walking towards their bedrooms. “Ah, yes, the infamous tiger striped jacket with navy trousers. 1988. How could I forget?” Rhodey chuckled.

Tony waved his hand, “Don’t worry. I’ll see you later.”

“If the date goes well and you bring him back here, just text me and I’ll disappear for the night.” Rhodey winked before walking into his room to hear Tony yelling curses.

Tony disappeared into his room, showering and getting ready. He _did_ hope it was a date, but was it?

*

James came by at 7 pm with Tony waiting outside Stark Towers for him. An agent driving him, James stepped out of the car from the backseat. “Hey there, gorgeous.” James smiled brightly, walking over to Tony, heart beating quick at seeing the other man.

Tony chuckled, smiling. “Who are you calling gorgeous? You look really nice.” Tony’s heart was beating just as fast and the two dorks stood there smiling at each other when the driver honked at them.

The two laughed softly and James offered Tony his hand, “Shall we?”

“Yes, we shall.” The two got into the backseat of the car and James gave the driver the address of the small diner and the Agent started driving again.

“How was your day?” James asked, body turned towards Tony.

“Developing a prototype of new designs. The usual.” Tony shrugged, smiling. “You? I heard how things went down with Wanda, are you okay?”

James nodded, “Yeah, things are both weird and better after- after her. Steve and Clint were the ones she really targeted and they’re dealing with it. Realizing you’ve been brain-washed is never a pretty thing.”

“No, it’s not. Wanda hurt us all.” Tony sighed, “It’s sort of relieving to know that she is partly to blame for what happened to the Avengers. I thought it was all mine and Rogers’ fault.”

James took Tony’s hand in his, rubbing the back of his hand with his thumb. “It wasn’t. Tell me more about what you’ve been working on.” He smiled softly. Tony’s heart fluttered at the smile directed at him and he looked down, smiling. _How old am I? 13?_ Tony thought grumpily.

“I was working on a new design for my hands. As you know, I designed a pair of gloves which I can use to work with. But those are quite clunky and very similar to the Iron Man suit and I was working on a prototype that would allow me to use my fingers in more casual settings without having iron gloves. It’s modelled after Rhodey’s leg crutches. Braces.” Tony looked back up at James.

“Wow, that sounds amazing. How does it work?”

“It’s a bit difficult to describe, but basically-“ was all Tony said before he launched into a _very_ detailed explanation at how these finger braces would work, a mixture of Friday in his ear and responsive tech.

The car stopped outside the diner just as Tony finished describing the initial design. The two got out of the car and the agent gave them a time to pick them up again. James, hand on the small of Tony’s back, led the two into the diner.

The same waiter as they had last time, a skinny college kid with the name tag of ‘Pierre’, greeted them again and led them to a table, giving them the menu. “How’s your night going so far? Can I take down any drinks you want?”

“Thanks, Pierre, it’s going nice.” James smiled and sat down on one side of the booth. Tony slid onto the comfy, cushioned bench opposite James.

“Can I get some coffee?”

“Can I get water?”

“Sure thing. Be right back.”

“Thank you” James smiled and turned back to Tony, “Tell me more about how it would work.”

“Oh, it’s not that interesting. It’s just basic reactive tech.” Tony shrugged as if that was casual to James.

“It _is_ that interesting because I have no idea how that stuff works. I barely know how my arm works. Tell me, please.” James looked genuinely interested so Tony grinned brightly, continuing his explanation. During his explanation, James took Tony’s hands in his, reaching over the small table. It was a small but clearly romantic gesture [ _Right? Hand-holding is romantic. Although Rhodey and I held hands all the time._ Tony thought] that made Tony stutter on his words briefly but recovered smoothly. He used to be a playboy, damn it, he should be more smooth than this.

Pierre brought over the drinks, a friendly smile on his face, “Sorry to interrupt. Are you ready to order?”

James looked at Tony with eyebrows raised. “Oh yeah, can I have the ‘Double Smash Double Whammy’ Burger?” Tony asked, looking at the menu on the table next to where James still held his hands.

“Same, please.”

“Sure thing.” Pierre noted down and disappeared again.

“Anyway, where were we? You were talking about the mechanism of the braces.” James smiled, squeezing Tony’s hands.

“Yes, we were. I was just finishing off, I mean, there’s not much more.” Tony shrugged, his fingers playing with James’.

“That’s so interesting. I love hearing about technology. It’s so wonderful how far we’ve come. When I was a kid, there wasn’t much of anything. We had sports. But now, there are so many different types, I’m still discovering new types every day.”

“Oh yeah? What’s your favourite sport you didn’t have back in the day?”

“Oh, I don’t know. My favourite is basketball and football. Mostly, because those are the ones I’m most familiar with. I haven’t played in forever, really. Since before I left for World War two.”

“You’re so much older than me but you look so much younger than me. Look at me, I look old.” Tony mumbled and James squeezed his hands again.

“I’m twice your age. But you don’t look old, solnyshko, you look amazing.”

“Solnyshko?” Tony was _embarrassed_ to say he felt his cheeks heat up. Blushing. Blushing? Just then, though, Pierre came by with two plates with two burgers and French fries.

“Here you are. Enjoy!” Pierre sat the plates down carefully and left again.

“Solnyshko. It’s like-“ James took one French fry, nibbling on it. “small sun?” He smiled, eyebrows raised.

“Aw. That’s sweet of you, Jimothy.” Tony grinned, taking the burger in his hands and beginning to eat.

James smiled at the other man, taking the burger in his hand. “No prob, bob.” He grinned, biting into his burger.

“Ha!” Tony swallowed his first bite, laughing softly.

*

 The two men found they had more in common that at first glance. More than just the past of suffering, non-consensual surgery and body modification and kidnapping. “This is all my favourite music. It’s mostly rock music from the 70s. Natasha called me weird but her music was too much.” James had pulled out his phone and two were comparing their favourite music choices.

Tony grinned brightly, “Classic rock. You’re a man with good taste. You know, one of these bands wrote a song after me?”

“No, really? What’s it called, ‘Life of a Genius’?”

“N-no, it’s called ‘Iron Man’.” Tony stuttered a bit though he was still smiling. “Cute name, though.”

James chuckled softly, “I’ll have to listen to it then, if it’s named after you.”

Tony took another bite, “Have you discovered pop music of the 21st century yet?”

“No, Natasha’s been steering me away from it. Said, once 2001 happens, music isn’t as good anymore.”

“Ah, she’s being cynical. Music becomes much more fun. And disturbing. And hilarious, honestly. There’s so much music nowadays, there’s new songs to discover every day.”

“I love discovering new things every day.”

“And you call _me_ curious.” Tony huffed jokingly, eating the delicious burger.

“You are. It’s a good thing.” James sipped on his glass of water.

“Curiosity killed the cat, James.” Tony joked.

“But satisfaction brought it back, Tony. My dad used to say that to my mom and she countered with that. I know all these sayings by heart.” James chuckled.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day?”

“But it burned in one. Keep ‘em comin’.”

“What about, ‘blood is thicker than water’?”

“The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. Real old one, my neighbour, Missus Green, used to tell me that all the time.”

“Missus Green? What a lady. My country, right or wrong.”

“If right, be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

“Great minds think alike.” Tony winked at James who grinned, finishing his food.

“though fools seldom differ. My mom said that a lot about Steve and me. We always got into a trouble. Well, he’d pull me into trouble and I’d get him out of trouble.” James chuckled.

“Really? I don’t know, Jimothy, you’re giving me some vibes with that leather jacket. Trouble.” Tony chuckled, looking him up and down.

James held his hands up, smirking, “Just cause I look like I’m trouble doesn’t mean I am. I promise, I’m a good catholic man.”

“Catholic?”

“Oh yeah. My family were real Catholics. Church every Sunday, no cursing, no taking God’s name in vain. Confession booths were my parents’ second home.” James chuckled, “They raised me like a good catholic. I may or may not have been a bit corrupted and I don’t go to church as often as I should-“ “you go to church?” “But I’m officially still catholic. What about your family?”

“Oh well, between my dad the Scientist and my mom the Roman Catholic Italian, I used to go to church with my mom every Sunday as well. Then I went to boarding school, university. Church may or may not have gotten lost in there. But I personally don’t believe in Christianity. I mean, between what I’ve seen from aliens, gods and magic, I honestly don’t know.” Tony sighed, looking at his empty plate then finished his drink.

“I think that’s as close to an answer as we’ll get.” James shrugged, “I think the best we can do is live today and live tomorrow.”

“Live today and Live tomorrow. I like that, that’s really poetic.”

“Thank you, I try really hard.”

“I can tell.” Tony smirked and James stuck his tongue out again. Tony was getting a serious deja vue but it was a pleasant feeling.

The night was over much too quickly and before they knew it, it was time for the Agent to pick them up.

“I feel like a teenager again. Curfew. An adult picking us up.” Tony huffed, paying for the meal and leaving a nice tip.

“Aw and that was only a couple decades ago.” James teased him and Tony nudged him softly in the side but James caught his hand easily. He didn’t let go.

The car ride back to Stark Towers was much too short and they spent it in comfortable silence, James still holding Tony’s hand. “Do you want to come inside for a-“ Tony was in the middle of asking James to come up so they could talk more when both James’ and Tony’s phone buzzed with a distinctive pattern that meant one thing.

“Avengers Assemble.” James sighed.


	8. A Doom for All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If fighting Doom-bots wasn't enough, fighting Victor Von Doom personally was a bit too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, shorter than last chapter but that was the longest chapter so far! Thank you all for commenting and all the kudos! :D We're so close to the end now!!!

_“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle_

“Avengers Assemble.” James sighed, looking down at his clothes. “I should call Steve to tell him to bring my shit to wherever we’re going.” He took out his phone, which had stopped buzzing, typing out a message.

“You can come with me and Spiderman, if you want.” Tony offered, opening the door and getting out.

James followed suit, ignoring the Agent muttering something about ‘love-sick idiots’, “Spiderman? The red-and-blue kid from Germany?”

“Oh yeah.” Tony chuckled, walking inside quickly. The Agent followed them, grumbling about something.

“Agent Adams, no need to be so grumpy. What’s attacking us? Doom?” Tony rolled his eyes, walking into the elevator.

“Yeah, it’s Doom again. The analysis you did on his bots showed their absorbance of energy, as in measuring the punches thrown by some Avengers. Measuring the fighting style. We think these bots will be more advanced and better at fighting. He’s after the New York Sanctum again, we think. His bots are heading for what they’re containing.” The Agent sighed, “Again. Honestly, you’d think he’d just come here himself.”

Tony chuckled, “You’d think so, alas here we are. If I had an army of robots like that, I’d get them to get me take out and coffee all the time.”

“Aw, Mister Stark, you wound me. You _do_ have an army of robots.” Agent Adams put his hand on his chest and Tony looked confused for a second then laughed.

“Agent! A sense of humour!” Tony grinned. James had to laugh softly at that, it was partially true. Everyone safe for Sharon Carter and O’Riley had been robot-like in their behaviour.

“Spiderman is awaiting in your living room. The Rogues are on their way. They have your weapons with them, Mister Barnes.” The Agent said, looking down at his phone as the three walked into the living room.

Spiderman, shiny new red-and-blue suit, was already waiting, sitting on the couch comfortably. “Hey, guys! Oh, hey, James.” The kid said and James stood still for a second, recognising the voice.

“Peter!” James walked over, “I didn’t realize it was you! Spiderman, huh?”

Peter slid the mask off with a boyish smile, “Yeah. Sorry about Germany.”

“If I remember correctly, you did just fine for yourself. Strong little spider.” James teased him, nudging his shoulder. “You know, I would say they start off early nowadays but that’s not true.” He turned back to Tony, who had his Iron Man Suit on, face exposed with a grin.

“Where do we need to head to, Agent?” Tony turned to the agent.

“Long Beach. Doom’s got his whole army headed there. We’ve notified all civilians there, and they’re on their way to evacuation towards New York City. Try and keep it contained.”

“Will try.” Tony’s head was enveloped by the Iron Man Suit and turned around to go back to the elevator. “Come on, Friday’s preparing the jet on the roof.”

*

The sky dipped in a saturated, deep orange as the sun set. Tony, James, Peter and Agent Adams sat together in the jet as Friday flew them towards Long Beach.

“Bit by a radioactive spider?”

“Basically. Then Tony built me this _amazing_ suit!” Peter grinned brightly.

“The kid’s going to be out fighting, might as well be fighting in a suit that’s _not_ made of cloth.” Tony sighed, leaning back.

Peter chuckled softly, “Aunt May is really proud of me but she worries a lot, too.”

“I can imagine. But you’re one strong little spiderling.” James grinned back at the teen who pouted dramatically.

“It’s Spiderman.”

“We’re here. We’ll drop you off on the beach. The Rogues should be there, awaiting you.” Agent Adams stood up, the back of the jet opening up slowly.

Tony stood up, Iron Man suit enveloping his head and he offered his arm to James. “For the ride down.”

“Would I ever say no?” James grinned, taking Tony’s hands.

“Aww.” Peter mumbled, jumping out of the plan and webbing slowly down, the web attached to the belly of the jet.

Tony jumped out of the plane, flying directly from the plane, holding James in his arms. James held onto Tony, closing his eyes as the cold air hit him. It wasn’t long before they touched down on the beach but James savoured the moment.

A couple of feet away were the Rogues, dressed for battle with grim faces. Tony let James go with the words, “Go get your dress battle on, Jimothy.”

James chuckled, “Sorry we got interrupted by a bunch of robots trying take over the magic sanctum.”

“Spoken like a true Aveneger. We’ll go out again, don’t worry.”

James grinned, “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Make-up dinner. Let me take you to _my_ favourite place in Manhattan.”

“It’s a deal.” James placed his hand on Tony’s chest, smiling, then jogged over to where the group of Rogues were stood. Steve, holding James’ weapons and clothing, walked over to him. Sam, Natasha and Clint followed.

“How was the date?”

“Did you kiss?”

“Were you two doing something important when the alarm went off?”

James held his hands up, smirking. “Like I would tell any of you the details. I’m a gentleman.” He took his stuff from Steve, turned to leave then dropped the smirk. “It went really well” He smiled softly and jogged towards the streets of the small city. He changed quickly, putting on the more appropriate battle-clothing and his weapons.

By the time he was back on the beach, the two groups had slowly mingled. It was weird and it was unexpected to see Peter talk with Natasha [ _two spiders in one place?_ James thought] and Steve was talking to Tony. James couldn’t hear what they were saying so he walked over to Clint and Sam who stood close.

“Tony, I-“ Steve started saying but Tony interrupted him.

“I heard about Wanda. About- about what she did to you and Clint. It sucks, doesn’t it?” Tony’s voice was low and nigh emotionless.

“Yes. But that doesn’t excuse my actions. I was awful, I was terrible. I thought I was doing right but I was just hurting you in doing so. I don’t know how much of my actions were Wanda and how much was me but that doesn’t really matter. I never once questioned anything I ever did. I got the others involved, I was wrong, I kept secrets that I shouldn’t have, I hurt you incredibly.” Steve sounded so _genuine_ and _tired_ that James’ heart ached.

“You did. You should have told me. You shouldn’t have gotten the others involved the way you did. Was that Wanda as well?” Tony still gave no emotion away.

“Bringing in Clint, Scott, that was me. That was partially me and partially Wanda and not a day goes by that I regret that. And I’m sorry. I know that me being sorry won’t solve or fix anything- and I don’t expect it to. I know you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. I was an absolute dick.”

Tony- Tony _fucking_ Stark- chuckled, “Yes, you were. But when are you not?” he sighed, “I don’t trust you and honestly, this is a bit much as well. But I _was_ curious as to what you thought and how much your actions were influenced by Wanda. I can forgive those, I know how harming mind-control is.”

“I’m still figuring that out myself. James described it as being a stranger in your own mind. I thought I understood what he meant then, but now I really do. I don’t know anymore which thoughts are mine and which thoughts she put in my head. Which actions I myself did and which actions she made me do. Doctor Strange showed us some of the moments she influenced us- and it was-“ Steve shook his head, speechless then.

He took a deep breath and continued, “But that’s not what I wanted to say. I’m not trying to get you to pity me. I want to apologise and regain your trust. I messed up. I failed you.”

Tony stood still for a second, not saying anything. No one was saying anything, all listening to the two men talking. Tony’s face was revealed when the Iron Man armour disappeared from his head.

“That new?” Steve asked carefully.

Tony’s face was still but his eye were a bit watery. “Yeah, it’s nano-technology.”

“That’s incredible.”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day where you admit defeat. Steve Rogers, admitting failure.”

Steve looked down, abashed and a bit taken aback by Tony’s words. They were teasing words, but his tone was serious. “I was an asshole who thought I was always right. Mind-control or not, that’s who I had always been. But I’ve changed in the last few months, I want to be someone who knows when they’re wrong.” He looked back up at Tony.

Tony nodded, looking thoughtful. Again, he didn’t speak for a few moments then exhaled shakily. “Okay. Okay. I accept this. I accept your apology. I’m still _pissed_ you lied to me and everything you did- everything you did _to me_.” He held up a finger, pointing at Steve then dropped it. “But your mind had been invaded. You were a dick. I’m open to this new Steve Rogers. A new, improved Captain America. But you have to earn my trust and my friendship.”

Steve’s face dropped, his eyes watering and he stumbled a bit, hand on his chest. He let out a shaky breath, “Tony, that’s more than I deserve. Thank you. Thank you.” He whispered quietly and James could barely make out what they said over the waves of the ocean.

Tony held out his hand and Steve shook it.

 “Guys, that was beautiful. But we got a situation on our hand. Doom’s bots are close.” Sam pointed at the ocean in front of them. Several boats were on their way, headed straight for the beach. No one except for Peter and Clint could see the robots on the ship itself- supersight- and Clint turned to leave.

“I’m going to get to one of the top buildings. Take out as many as I can before they hit the beach. I’ll be on the comms.” Clint pointed to his ear, to the others then started running towards the towering buildings behind them with his bow in his hand. James made a mental note to ask him about how that worked later- _maybe he had the comms on over his hearing aids?_

Iron Man nodded, stepping back from Steve and his head was enveloped by the suit again, “I’ll fly over them, count how many there are and take out as many as I can, as well.” He said before flying off towards the boats.

Steve turned to the rest of the Avengers- Falcon, Black Widow, Spiderman and Winter Soldier- and took his shield off his back. “We should split up, spread out and form a line. Try and hold that line. Sound good?” A few nods later, the Avengers spread out on the beach. James walked over to Steve, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay?”

“That was terrifying. I’m over the moon, though.”

“He still doesn’t trust you, though.” James teased him half-heartedly.

“But he’s willing to give me a second chance.” Steve nodded, looking determinedly at the ocean in front of him. “I’m not going to mess up this time. I’m done messing up.”

“Aw, Stevie, I’m so proud of you.” James smiled and the two split up alongside the rest, standing on the beach. “Where’s Scott, by the way?”

“He’s in San Francisco. Hope and Hank called him earlier and he left instantly. We’ll do fine without him, though.” Steve explained.

“Not why I was asking.” James muttered sarcastically. Honestly, he didn’t care that much for Lang, he was just curious why he wasn’t here.

“Okay, there are four boats heading to the beach. About a hundred on each boat. They’re really squished on it.” Tony’s voice came through the comms. James noticed a few arrows whizzing over his head towards the boats. Tony aimed for the robots on the boat furthest on the left but as soon as his repulsors hit the boat, there was a purple glimmer and the repulsor backfired.

“Okay, they’ve got shields.” Tony huffed, flying further up. “But those shields looked pretty flimsy to me, but what do I know of magic?”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Clint grumbled.

“Aw, guys.” Sam sighed.

“Anyway. Let’s see how much these shields can hold.” Tony said with determination in his voice.

“Be careful, Tony.” James couldn’t stop himself from saying those words, immediately earning him looks from Steve, who stood to his left and Peter, who stood to his right. Steve grinned brightly, winking at him whereas Peter just put his hands to his mouth, as if he was shocked.

“I’m always careful, Jimothy.” Tony laughed softly, voice less mechanical through the comms and proceeded to try out various firepower on the boats. The last one, a beam from the arc reactor broke through the shield and the doom-bots immediately reacted by jumping off the boat and into the water, swimming towards the beach as the boat stood still suddenly.

“That’s weird. Doom-bots on your way. They’re swimming.” Tony shot at various doom-bots he spotted as well as arrows flying into the water.

Slowly, the other three boats reached the beach just as the doom-bots [ _half of a hundred_ , James counted] came out of the water. “Avengers, let’s go!” Steve called and so the battle begun. Where Sam took off into the air, flying alongside Tony and shooting at the Doom-bots from the air, Steve took off into the crowd of doom-bots emerging from the ocean. Natasha climbed on-board of one of the boats, not waiting for the doom-bots to leave.

James stood a safe distance from the boats, shooting at any bots that got past the first blockade. Peter stood behind him, webbing the bots together from where he stood. It was an amazing scene. Iron Man and Falcon working together to kill as many robots as they could from the sky, shooting down bullets, beams and god-knows-what [James didn’t]. Steve and Natasha made their way through the robots that got past the boats, quick, agile and powerful, the two worked together easily. Clint did his best from high-up, picking off the bots that tried to go around the fight. James shot any bots that slipped through Steve and Nat.

Peter stood behind James, talking excitedly about the fight, webbing down any stray bots, blinding them and tying them down. These bots were considerably easy to defeat.

Until the first wave of bots laid on the sand, defeated, punched through or electrocuted, things had been easy. The decks of the boats were empty until a second wave emerged from the bottom of the boats, red-eyed. There were roughly- and James was guessing here- a hundred or so. Maybe more. They took more powerfire from Tony and Sam to go down and more and more got past them, jumping down onto the beach.

Steve threw his shield, lodging it into the chest of a bot, red eyes dying. He pulled it out, knocking the head of another one. Natasha jumped on two standing close, digging her hand into the necks and electrocuting them. They took more effort from Steve and Natasha to die.

So, James, Clint and Peter did their best to destroy any bots that got through them. The bots were more bulletproof than the first wave, they were stronger and quicker. Evading Peter’s webs more easily, they came closer and closer until James and Peter had backed away to the edge of the beach.

“Go ahead into the city. If they get past me, knock ‘em down. They _cannot_ get past us.” James told Peter who nodded and jumped up, webbing away into the city behind them.

He watched the young teen disappear and turned back to the robots that had reached him. Attaching his weapon to his back, he flicked his wrist and took the knife from his palm. He reached down to his boots, taking out another knife.

A bot reached for him, and he turned to the side, stabbing the bot in its head. A second bot grabbed his metal arm, twisting it. James groaned in pain, jumping up and kicking it in its hips. There was a group of the bots swarming him now and it was like instincts kicked in. He didn’t even pay that much attention, muscle memory taking over. He took down bot after bot, lodging knives into their heads and fighting them.

They took much more effort and they were much smarter than before. Recognising that James’ left arm was both metal, valuable and attached to his body, they targeted his shoulders and his back, trying to dislocate and disarm him. Literally.

James didn’t slow down however, ripping off one bot’s head and kicking the one behind him. It was a scene of truly held back anger that he could unleash on these robots. He tried not to let the emotion wash over him though, knowing that anger could destabilise him. “Fuck-off!” He hissed, but there were more and more.

One got a hold of his right wrist. Another one his left wrist. Another one took the knife from his hands and dug it into the back of his shoulder. “ _Fuck_ ” James cursed in pain, gritting his teeth. Another one pulled at the metal arm, red eyes glowing furiously. James lost count at how many bots were going past him.

“There are too many!” James said loud enough for the comm. “They’re getting past me. Peter, how are things on your end?” He managed to swipe the bot holding his left hand away with a swift kick and punched the others to the side. He reached to the back and pulled out the knife, clenching his jaw.

“I got them. I think I got them.” Peter’s voice was out of breath but confident.

James looked over at the boats and saw Tony and Sam, now both on ground, fighting off the last bots. “These are the last ones! James, go help Peter!” Tony said, blasting bots left and right.

James rolled his shoulders back, feeling the semi-super serum starting to heal the wound. He took his knives, covered in his own blood, and headed towards the city, following the bots. He threw his two knives into the back of the bot’s heads. Once they were down, he pulled them out and he repeated this until there were no more bots in sight.

“Peter, where are you? You okay?” James asked, slightly panting. Now that he knew the young teen was Spiderman as well, he felt an incredible amount of both worry and respect. The kid was strong- incredibly so- but he was also still a kid.

“I’m on W Broadway. Something’s wrong though. They stopped walking. They’re just sitting, waiting. They didn’t even fight back when I webbed them.” Peter said and James took off into the direction of the street. He found Peter stood next to at least fifteen doom-bots sitting on the ground, webbed but sitting straight.

“What are they doing?” James frowned, walking closer.

“I don’t know but if they wanted to get to the New York Sanctum, they’re doing it horribly wrong. First, it would have been easier to go through Lower New York Bay, through Staten Island and Brooklyn. Why come to Long Beach?” Peter asked, sounding less confused but frustrated.

“I don’t know. I’m not a robot. It would be easier if Doom himself would just be here rather than sending robots.” James sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Just then, the bots all ripped through the web that held them down and James pulled Peter back. The bots connected their arms, their red eyes glowing brighter than before. They spoke incoherently and suddenly there was a bursting light in between the circle of the bots.

“Guys? Something’s happening here.” James said to the comms. “Climb up the buildings. Try and disable them from up there.”

“But-“

“Go!” James nudged the teen to the nearest building and turned back to the bots.  Peter climbed up the building easily, sitting on top of the roof.

“What’s happening?” Came several voices.

“I don’t know! Maybe they’re summoning something.” James stabbed one of the bots in its head, releasing it from the rest of the group. “One down.” He turned to the next one, trying to knock it away from the circle but groaned in pain as it stood unmovable.

“We’re on our way!” Steve said. A flash of lightning, a thunderous roar, and suddenly a man stood in the middle of the bots with the same mask.

“Victor Doom, I presume?” James raised his eyebrows, kicking the bot next to him in the head.

“Nice rhyme. I hadn’t thought of that.” The man spoke with a heavy east-european accent. “I’m sure you have better things to do than to be here, with a little spider.” Doom waved his hand, electricity crackling in the palm of his hand.

“First of all, you’re not even close to the Sanctum. Second of all, he’s a big spider. Tarantula.” James held up one knife.

“Who says I want to go to the Sanctum?” Doom growled and raised his hand towards James. James jumped to the side, throwing a knife towards Doom’s stomach. But Doom, surprisingly agile, stepped to the side and punched the air towards James. It would have looked comical if it hadn’t sent a burst of lightning towards James.

James flew up suddenly, Peter having caught him with his web away from the lightning and up towards him. “Wow.” He mumbled as he flew towards the air and Peter caught him.

“James? James! What’s happening!” Tony was the first to arrive on the scene and spot Doom.

“Doom’s here!”

The rest of the Avengers arrived just then. Peter held James, sitting on top of a building. “You okay?” the young teen whispered.

“I’m still alive.”

“That’s what counts.” Peter patted James’ head softly and set him down on top of the building. James stood up and watched the scene unfold before them.

The two looked down as the Avengers started fighting Doom. For a one man army, he was doing well. The lightning didn’t affect Steve’s shield nor Tony’s armour but it was volatile and it didn’t seem as Doom could control it as well as he thought he did. Natasha, Sam and Clint were dodging any attack on them while Tony and Steve took the brunt of it.

“Enough!” Doom yelled, having his arms in an x-formation across his chest, he released his arms, throwing them sideways and released a storm of lightning. Tony and Steve shielded the others but the intensity of the lightning threw them all backwards against the building behind them.  

“You don’t even know what you’re fighting against!” Doom yelled and James nudged Peter. “Can you get us back down there?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll land us out of sight.” Peter took James on his back, jumping silently from the building, webbing down carefully and coming to land behind the block, watching from around the corner. James and Peter and silently walked towards Doom, who was monologing about his plans.

“The New York Sanctum holds the key to improve the world and they’re just _holding_ it there! My country was torn apart by men who were obsessed with greed and lust, and they’re _sitting_ on the answer to save the world! In my hands, I could bring the world into a new era of peace. True peace that would reach _every_ nation in the world! You are all traitors to humanity, fighting _me_ when you should be fighting those elitists _wizards_!” Doom was yelling, building up electricity as he talked in each hand.

Peter moved quickly to the other side behind Doom and used this opportunity to web his arms to his body and web his legs together.

Doom turned around with murderous eyes, narrowing his eyes when he spotted Peter. “Tarantula.” To which Peter just sighed, looking at James who held his right hand up with a grin.

Doom kicked the doom-bot next to him-foot electrified- who stood up, tearing at the web. It was mere seconds before anyone could react that Doom was freed and shot lightning at the feet of the other Avengers, who had closed in on him. Tony and Sam flew into the air, shooting at him but Doom built a cage of electricity around himself. He shot a lightning bolt towards Natasha who jumped to the side, landing on her feet and throwing one of her small widow bites condensed into a ball onto Doom, who in return shot the bite in the air and caused a slight explosion.

He turned around, just as Peter was about to web him again and raised his hands towards him, directing the electric cage into one beam of power and aimed it at Peter. “Oh shit!” Peter cussed and jumped up onto the building, too quick and agile for Doom’s lightning which hit the building instead.

Tony shot Doom’s back, sending him flying across the street and away from the doom-bots which woke up again. “Peter, stay away from the fight! Stay up there, okay?” Tony asked, worry deep seated in his voice to which Peter replied, “Gladly.”

Natasha, Clint and Sam started attacking the doom-bots that were crackling with electricity as well now while Tony, Steve and James took after Doom. Doom stood in the city, letting electricity crackle all around him. He aimed for Tony and Steve, not seeing James behind Steve. James tackled Doom as he had his arms raised, digging his two knives, held in one hand, into his abdomen. Doom’s whole body was alight with lightning and as soon as James stabbed the man, he was filled with lightning as well.

“Jimothy!”

“Bucky!”

Crying out in pain and frustration, James dug his knives deeper. Electricity was filling every fibre of his skin, burning his metal arm and it felt like he was on fire. “Give up already!” He hissed, pulling out the knives and before he could dig them into Doom again, Doom flung him back with a violent gust of lightning.

He landed on his back, his head knocked back on the concrete of the street. He laid there for a second, electricity still pulsing through him. He moved his hand, rubbing his face.

“JAMES!” Two cries from the two men came and he whispered into the comm, “Keep on. I’m alive.” He moved his body to the side, regaining control over his legs and his right arm. He could feel something wet on his face-probably blood. He felt two small hands help him sit up and he looked up the see Peter, face still covered by the suit.

“Peter, you’re not supposed to be down here. Get out of here.” James grunted, his voice hoarse and low. Peter shook his head, helping James stand up slowly.

“You’re hurt. Let me take you to one of the roofs.” Peter looked him up and down, stopping when he saw the arm, a smoking heap of metal that was still roughly the form of an arm but the fingers were melted away.

James saw it a second before Peter reacted and he pushed the young teen out of the way against his protest. Doom had brought Steve down, still clutching the shield in front of him and Tony, whose suit was smoking weakly. Doom sent a thick lightning bolt towards James and Peter.

James took the brunt of the bolt, turning to his side so it would hit his metal arm instead of his flesh directly and he flew back again. “JAMES” Peter yelled, throwing a web at him so he landed softly.

His consciousness faded away slowly as he saw Peter hover over him. “Why did you do that?! I was about to take you with me-away! You didn’t have to do that!”

James opened his mouth to reply but the pain overwhelmed him, his metal arm aflame with burning pain and his consciousness fading away.  

_*_

_“_ _Zhelaniye, Rasti, Semnadtsat', Rassvet, Plita, Devyat', Dobroye serdtse, Vozvrashcheniye na dom, Odin, Tovarnyy avtomobil'. Soldat?”_ _It was a cold, dim room. James looked down to see himself restrained. A man, a soldier, stood in front of him in a military uniform. Soviet._

_  
“zhdu zakazov.”_ _He heard himself speak and was released. It wasn’t his own body. He couldn’t move._

_He couldn’t stop either. Walking towards the door, he tried to run but he couldn’t move his body properly. The walls and the door in front of him melted into a puddle. He gazed over it, losing his balance and falling in. He landed in the snow, a thick forest around him. In front of him was a middle-aged woman, pleading for her life in front of him. His hands snapped her neck, dropping her lifeless body into the snow._

_He took her hands, dragging her into the forest and stopping at a small hut._

_Mission Accomplished._

_He dragged the body the the front of the door and left quickly, spying in between the forest._

_Cold. Snow. Scream._

_A man opened the door and screamed, crying out. James stood back up and suddenly regained control. He started running. The snow weighed him down, and he tripped, crying. Someone turned him around roughly and pointed a gun to his head._

_“_ _Ya dolzhen ubit' tebya za eto.” The man said and James could do nothing but cry._

_“Ubey menya! Pozhaluysta!” James cried, taking the gun and guiding it to his head._

_“_ _Seychas ne budet namnogo kholodneye_ _.” The man said with a hiss and pulled the trigger-_

James woke up with a cry, sweat on his forehead and his back, his right hand fisted in the sheet. Voices around him, soothing, familiar tones, and hands covered his shoulders. His eyes were blinded by the bright light of the room and it took him a moment to realize where he was and who was with him.

“Bucky.” Steve was on the right side of his bed, clutching his hand. “You’re here. You’re alive. You’re with us.” Next to him were Sam and Natasha, small smiles on their faces.

On the left side of his bed was Tony, who had his hand on James’ shoulder. “You survived a whole bunch of lightning, Jimothy.” Next to him stood Peter who had a weak smile on his face.

“You didn’t have to do that, James.”

“skol’ko-“ He started in Russian, his voice barely a whisper, “uh, how long was I out?” His throat ached when he tried to use his voice properly. He shifted in his bed, trying to get a feel of his body but everything just _hurt_.

“A couple of hours. We apprehended Doom and Shield’s dealing with him now. How are you feeling?” Tony asked with a soft voice.

“Like I was struck by lightning, but that’s how I feel every time I look at you.” James grinned at the other man who narrowed his eyes with a playful smile.

“Would have figured you’d be used to it by now then.” Tony smiled weakly.

“One would have thought, yes.” James mumbled, closing his eyes again. He felt _exhausted_ and _fried_. “I might catch a few more hours, you know, make sure my body’s rested.”

“We’ll be here when you wake up.” Steve smiled and James fell asleep again.

*

Seeing James blasted with a bolt of lightning had been awful. It had been awful to see him close his eyes in Peter’s arms and all Tony could do was try not to cry. He focused instead on apprehending Doom. Together with Steve, _Steve_ , the two managed to evade his lightning and pin him down. Steve punched him unconscious with tear-streaks on his cheeks.

“We got him.” Tony sighed. “Let’s notify Shield.” But the two men moved over to where Peter was holding James. James’ metal arm was smoking, completely fried.

“He’s still alive. Why did he do that? I was about to take him away, anyway.” Peter stared at the man in his arms frustratedly, blinking back tears.

“He does that to ya.” Steve sighed, sitting down next to Peter. Tony joined him, the three of them sitting around James.

Natasha, Clint and Sam came running towards them. “We need to get him to a hospital. Tell Shield we got Doom.” Steve told the others and Natasha nodded, taking out her phone and walking over to Doom.

A few minutes later, two helicopters arrived with Agents swarming out of them. “We’ll take care of the bots. Take doom in one and Barnes in the other.” One Agent informed them and so they did. Peter, Tony and Steve took James in one helicopter and Natasha, Clint and Sam took Doom in the other.

The first helicopter brought Barnes to the nearest SHIELD quarters in New York City, bringing him to the hospital ward. Neither Peter nor Tony nor Steve left James’ side as he was swarmed by doctors.

Sitting next to him in the hospital room, the three men were silently watching James sleep off the electricity-induced unconsciousness. Tony’s armour disappeared back into the arc reactor and Peter had taken his mask off.

“Has he always been like that?” Tony asked slowly.

“He’s always been loyal. Loyal, supportive, even in the worst times. Used to save me all the time from bigger bullies, back when I was a little guy.” Steve reminisced, smiling softly.

“I saw pictures. Your head was way too big for your body.” Tony grinned and Steve shrugged, grinning.

“I grew into my head once I had the serum. I hope.” Steve touched his face, holding it in his hands.

Peter shook his head, leaning forward on the bed. “He didn’t have to do that.” He pouted, guilt written all over his face.

“He didn’t. But he does. He’s that kind of person. How old are you?” Steve looked at Peter with worried eyes.

“Old enough.”

“16.” Tony sighed, “I told you to stay away from Doom, Peter. If James hadn’t absorbed the lightning with his metal arm, and survived, it could have hit you and _killed_ you.” He shook his head, his voice tired and bitter.

“Tony, I was out of the way!” Peter turned back to Tony who placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We had this discussion, Peter. If you die, that’s on me.”

“But I didn’t.” Peter sighed, looking back at James, whose face was twisted in fear.

Steve leaned forward, taking James’ hand in his. “The lightning completely destroyed his arm, didn’t it?”

“Oh yeah. It’s gone. But we’ll rebuild it. We’ll rebuild it as often as he needs.” Tony said determinedly and placed his hand on James’ chest.

*

Tony stood in the cafeteria, getting a cup of coffee for himself when Clint walked in, standing next to him. “Hey, Tony.”

“Clint. Hello.” Tony looked up at the other man.

“I-I wanted to apologise for my actions. Wanda manipulated me and I was blind. But it’s more than that. I never should have gotten involved, I should have stayed retired. Leaving retirement to fight, that was my decision. Mine alone and I-I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” Clint spoke slowly and gently, holding his hands together and fidgeting nervously.

“She wasn’t what you thought she was.” Tony sighed, paying for a large cup of coffee and moving to pour sugar into it, “Why _did_ you leave retirement, Clint? You had your family, you had your peace.”

“I did. I had everything. I was dumb and I didn’t think, I reacted. Steve painted this picture of my family being threatened and I bought into it. Of course, now that I know that it was Wanda who manipulated Steve, I feel foolish I didn’t question him.” Clint sighed deeply. “Anyway, I wanted to make sure you and I are okay.”

“Yeah, we’re okay. I mean, the whole ‘civil war’ was really about the Accords and Wanda manipulating Steve. I just want to move on now.” Tony stirred the sugar into his coffee.

“Also, if you don’t make Barnes your boyfriend, you both are thicker than I thought.” Clint grinned and walked away.

“Wait, what?” Tony blushed bright red, and really, he shouldn’t be able to blush like that at his age.

All he heard was Clint’s laughter, walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO the russian bits I got from google translate which is super unreliable so if anything's wrong, please tell me :D  
> Here are the translated bits though:  
> “Zhelaniye, Rasti, Semnadtsat', Rassvet, Plita, Devyat', Dobroye serdtse, Vozvrashcheniye na dom, Odin, Tovarnyy avtomobil'. Soldat?” Those are the command words to activate Winter soldier. [Longing, rusted, furnace, daybreak, seventeen, benign, nine, homecoming, one, freight car. Soldier?]  
> zhdu zakazov-waiting for orders.  
> Ya dolzhen ubit' tebya za eto-I should kill you for that.  
> Ubey menya! Pozhaluysta!- Kill me! Please!  
> Seychas ne budet namnogo kholodneye-It won't be much colder now.


	9. Manhattan Muffins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony shows James his favourite food-related place in Manhattan and the two finally talk about what they mean to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY I know I was supposed to update on Saturday but this weekend was absolutely horrible and I'm really sorry!!! Here's the 9th chapter though and to make it up to you all, I'm posting the 10th and final chapter tonight! (Or tomorrow morning? Depends on which time zones y'all are in) Thank you all for sticking with this fic and giving kudos and comments!!! It's been a hell of a ride.

_“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” Leo Tolstoy_

Going back to the Tower that night, Tony Stark didn’t know what to feel. The day was tiring, talking had been tiring, and that’s the emotion he settled on; exhaustion. He wasn’t as young as he used to be and he felt old. Old and tired. Seeing James get hit by lightning had caused his heart to stop. He sat on the edge of his bed, his hands covering his face. Going back over the last couple of years, he never thought he’d still be here.

The Superhero life was dangerous and no one was invincible.

Talking to Steve had gone…better than he thought. Seeing Steve at the Gala had been nauseating. The hard _clink_ of Steve’s shield cracking the arc reactor rung in his ears and he had to take a deep breath to ground him. Seeing Steve on the beach filled him with dread and anxiety, something he needed to get away from. They had never been close, though Tony had always wanted to be friends with his childhood hero.

The secret of his parent’s death was the final seal of the betrayal. With the new-found discovery of Wanda’s manipulation, Steve had said he didn’t know how much was him and how much had been Wanda. The only way to find out would be from Wanda. Or her magic.

Still, some things still sat sour inside Tony and that’s why he didn’t trust Steve.

 _“I accept your apology.”_ That’s what he’d told Steve. And he did, technically. He accepted the fact that Wanda was behind some of Steve’s actions. He accepted the fact that Steve admitted he was wrong and he failed. He accepted that Steve wanted to change from who he used to be- and Tony had been there himself.

That didn’t mean Tony trusted Steve. That didn’t mean Tony can forget everything that happened. That didn’t mean that Tony would forget the reason why he has the arc reactor in his chest or no mobility in his fingers. That didn’t mean Tony liked Steve.

Tony showered off the dirt and grime, the distinct hospital smell, and the emotional burden he held within him. He dried off and changed into more comfortable clothing, sliding into his bed. He closed his eyes, trying to relax and let the tension drain from his body.

Falling asleep took him forever, on days when he felt good, on days when he felt exhausted, on days when he had been working the whole day; sleep was never easy.

*

_Laying on the ground, he could feel his heart struggling to beat._

_He could feel the metal shards pushing their way through him to get to his heart. He looked down, the empty hole where the arc reactor should be._ _“_

_Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony.” A booming voice invaded his space suddenly and he strained to turn away from the face that appeared above him._

_“What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart.” There he was; Obadiah Stane._

_Obie._

_He loomed over Tony, smirk on his face and arc reactor in his hand._ _Tony couldn’t move, he was paralysed and he could only watch as the man who watched him grow up leave him for dead._

_He wanted to scream, he wanted to move, he wanted to **breathe** but all he could do was stare. _

_His surroundings changed as soon as he tried to move his arms and he was floating in water._

_In the ocean, in the Iron Man suit. His house was falling over him, debris and walls crashing everywhere._

_He tried to swim, move his arms but he couldn’t. He couldn’t move his hands, he couldn’t move his arms._ _He tried to yell, tried to scream, tried to call for help._

_“Jarvis!”_ _Silence. Deafening silence of the ocean surrounded him._

_Darkness surrounded him, as more and more of his house fell into the ocean around him and covered him._ _It was like a custom-made sarcophagus._

_“JARVIS!” He yelled again and suddenly Vision floated in front of him. “_

_Tony”_

Tony woke up, shaking and sweating. He curled further into his bed, burying his head in the pillow. “Just a dream. Just a dream.”

He mumbled to himself. He didn’t properly fall asleep again that night, but drifted in and out of a state of half-asleep and half-awake. Stumbling into the kitchen at 6:15 am to pour coffee into his body, he stood still when he saw Rhodey.

 “Can’t sleep?” Rhodey asked, sitting in his wheelchair by the counter, cup of coffee in his hands.  

“Something like that. You?” Tony asked, moving to pour himself a cup of coffee as well.  

“Yeah. A bad night, really. Can’t stop dreaming about falling. Shield approached me, wanting me to become an active Avenger.” Rhodey sighed.

 “You don’t want to?” Tony poured sugar into his coffee, mixing the sweet liquid.  

“I want to. It’s just-“ He shrugged, looking down at his mug. “Don’t know if I’m ready to fly again.” Tony and Rhodey moved to the living room, sitting next to each other on the sofa after Tony helped Rhodey onto the couch.  

“Yeah, I get that. I really do.” Tony took a sip from the hot coffee, “If you want to retire from being an Avenger, I won’t stop you.” 

“Maybe. It’s something to think about. Now that I have the means to walk again, I’m not sure I’m willing to lose it. But anyway, what about you? Why can’t you sleep?” 

Tony sighed, sitting on the edge of the couch. “I got stuff on my mind, apparently. I talked to Rogers yesterday.” 

“You talked to him? How did that go?” Rhodey frowned.  

Tony shrugged, looking down at his mug. “He apologised. Explained things. I said it’s cool.” 

“You said, ‘it’s cool’?” Rhodey started to sound more and more angry.

 “I didn’t. But I accepted his apology. Doesn’t mean I forgive him overall or that I trust him. Doesn’t mean everything’s back to normal.” Tony sighed.  

“That’s a step in one direction, I guess. I just can’t tell which direction. Are you sure you’re ready to go down that road?” Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know.” Tony said, staying still after that. He took a deep breath, “My mother always said that forgiveness is key to closure. Forgiveness is healing. I don’t want to _feel_ this way anymore. I’m working on forgiving. Am I happy I have the arc reactor in my chest? No and I never will be. Am I happy I lost the sense of touch in my hands? Fuck, no! And I never will. But I don’t want to harbour resentment, I don’t want to consume anger and revenge. I’m tired, Rhodey. I’m tired and I want to feel better.”  

Rhodey set down his mug and hugged his friend tightly, “Oh, Tony. I’m sorry. I just want to make sure those guys don’t hurt you again. Rogers did this to you, after all.” He rested his hand over Tony's arc reactor.

 “I know. Me, too. And I’m not saying I’ll be buddy-buddy with Rogers. But I’m doing this for myself, not for him.” Tony closed his eyes, resting his head on Rhodey’s shoulder.  “I’m doing this so I can feel better.”

 * 

James Barnes, laying in his hospital bed, was drifting in and out of consciousness. Dark dreams of murder when he slept, bright lights with Steve and Sam by his side when he was awake.

“You know, you don’t have to be here all-day. They’re going to release me soon. Don’t you guys have lives?” James chuckled weakly when he woke up from another nightmare. Another nightmare of a young face twisting in pain and numb in death.

“Yeah, but who would be here to make sure you don’t do dumb shit?” Sam grinned, reading something on his phone.

“That’s not it.” Steve frowned at Sam but smiled half-heartedly.

“Fine. Who would be here to film you doing said dumb shit?” Sam looked up at Steve with a wide grin.

“Me? I never do dumb shit!” James chuckled, sitting up in his bed. “It’s Steve here who’s a little shit.”

“You know, he stole from a museum. And not just any museum, he stole from the Smithsonian.” Sam leaned forward, grinning mischievously. Steve groaned, shaking his head and covering his face with his hands.

“No! Our Stevie? From the Smithsonian?” James gasped dramatically, covering his mouth with his only hand.

“Oh yeah. Boy knows how to steal shit.” Sam chuckled.

“I’m from World War Two. Of course I know how to steal shit.” Steve huffed, rolling his eyes but it was all in good humour.

“That’s a good point.” James grinned.

There was a knock before the door swung open with Natasha and Clint walked into the room. “How are you feeling, Zajka?” Natasha smiled warmly at him as she came to stand still next to Steve.

“As good as I can feel with one arm.” James shrugged. The doctors had removed the useless arm so he was once again with one arm.

“What’s Zajka mean?” Sam asked curiously.

“Little bunny.” Natasha grinned. Sam burst out laughing, Steve chuckled and Clint grinned widely.

“Why little bunny?” Sam asked after laughing.

“He wears buns. I thought it was fitting.” Natasha shrugged.

“You told me that’s modern fashion!” James pointed at her, pouting playfully.

“And it is _very_ modern fashion, Zajka. It just means you’re gonna get called bunny.”

“Thank you, so much, for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

It took James a while to get rid off his room-mates, telling them to leave and enjoy their lives and feigning fatigue. Steve was nothing if not a mother hen. Which was all the best because shortly after they left, he got two more visitors.

“Is this a bad time?” Tony opened the door with a soft smile.

“Not at all. Come on in.” James waved him in, smiling in return. Tony walked in, Peter trailing after him, holding something behind his back.

“Hey, James. I got you something to thank you for saving my life.” Peter said, sitting on the edge of the bed on one side with Tony on the other. “It’s not enough because nothing will ever be enough but I tried.” He gave James a small round box, covered in wrapping paper.

James raised his eyebrows, “What’s this?” He chuckled softly, unwrapping it quickly. A Goo Goo Cluster Collector’s Tin. James stared at the tin in his hands. “How- How did you-“ He tried to speak but he was embarrassed to say his voice was tight in his throat. _Goo Goo Clusters_.

“Well, Tony helped me a lot with finding these. I thought maybe to give you chocolates but that’s not enough. How about chocolate from back then! And so we researched and looked for all the candy they sold when you were a child and honestly, these sounded delicious so what better present to get you than something from the past that made it to the present? Just like you.” Peter explained, rambling at times but with a wide smile.

James looked up at Tony, blinking away tears that were about to form. Tony shrugged, “It’s the least thing we could do.” He smiled a bit shyly and James shook his head.

“This is- this is amazing. I loved these so much. Never got to eat them a lot. So when I did, it was a special occasion. Savoured every bite.” James looked down at the tin, holding it with one hand and sighed. “Mind opening that up for me, kid?” James chuckled and Peter took the tin from him, opening it up slowly to reveal the small packaged candy bars inside. “You guys tried one of these?” He offered them to Peter and Tony.

Peter shook his head, “We didn’t want to take away from the pile.” He smiled brightly as he took one.

Tony took one as well, “These mean a lot to you?”

James nodded, “A small thing, really, but it still counts. Peter, I’m afraid you’re going to have to open these for us old-timers too.” He grinned.

“Oh yeah.” Peter had opened his own greedily, about to bite into it. He took the two bars from the others, opening them up quickly and giving them back. “Cheers.” Peter grinned and bit into one.

James followed suit, biting into his candy bar slowly. The familiar, distant taste of marshmallow nougat, caramel, roasted peanuts and milk chocolate invaded his mouth when he bit into the small round candy bar. He closed his eyes, moaning quietly. “God, it’s so good.” He looked back at the guests in his room, cheeks slightly red.

Tony licked his lips after swallowing his first bite. Peter looked down, finishing the entire candy bar quickly.

“These are really good.” Tony looked at the candy bar then up at James who chuckled sheepishly.

“Still as good as back then. Maybe better. Since this is a thank you for taking that shot, you know what I say, Peter?”

“What’s that?”

“You are most welcome. I should do that more often if you’re gonna reward me with candy.” James grinned both he and Tony burst out laughing at the look of horror on Peter’s face.

“No more candy for you then.” Peter took away the tin.

James pouted, putting on the puppy dog eyes, “Taking away candy from an old man?”

“Really, Peter, taking candy away from a war vet.” Tony shook his head with a grin, still eating his candy bar.

Peter put the tin back on the bed, torn between laughing and frowning. “It doesn’t count, he doesn’t _look_ old.” He stuck his tongue out at the two men in front of him.

“I don’t _look_ old? How old do I look?” James raise an eyebrow, amused.

“Like thirties? Depends on your clothes and hair and beard. Right now, you look older. You got the whole beard growing and long hair look. Rugged.” Peter looked at James with squinting eyes, his head turned to the side slightly.

James looked up at Tony next to him, smiling. “You hear that? I’m _rugged_ , Tony.”

Tony chuckled, rolling his eyes and nudging James’ shoulder playfully. “Yeah, a real rugged man.”

James caught Tony’s hand and held it for a moment. “When are you taking me to your favourite Manhattan place, by the way?” He grinned up at the man, heart beating fast.

Tony bit his lip, moving his fingers against James’. “When you get out of here.”

“I’ll text you once the doctors tell me.”

“You better.”

“Aw, guys, are you done flirting?” Peter grinned, sneaking another Goo Goo Cluster. James’ eyes flickered to Peter’s hands and released Tony’s hesitantly then nudged the young teen.

“Stealing candy from me again? I’m laying in a hospital bed, Peter, I’m sick.”

“You’re not sick. Just a heroic dumbass.”

“Heroic dumbasses get the job done.” James grinned widely, causing Tony to chuckle. James looked back at Tony, his grin fading to a soft smile. James loved hearing Tony’s chuckle.

Just then, an intern came in with a doctor following him, announcing the visiting hours for James are over. Tony touched James’ shoulder, lingering but the two left.

James hid the tin of candy bar underneath the blanket, smiling as they informed of his latest updates. He could leave tomorrow, due to the accelerated healing of his body. James grinned at that, taking his cell phone out from the drawer of the night stand next to him.

*

As soon as James was released from the hospital, he took his time walking back to the Compound. It took him a while but he wanted to stretch his legs, enjoy the scenery and take his time. He was also texting Tony, smiling down at his phone, and he didn’t need an Agent watching him. They were a gossipy bunch. He had his tin of candy bars in a bag that SHIELD gave him.

Agent O’Riley, when he got back, had taken him to the side. James was worried something happened, something was off, something was wrong? “How was your date with Tony?” She grinned at him.

“What?” James asked, taken aback.

“You heard me. How was the date? Did you kiss?” She leant against the wall, arms crossed over her chest.

“It wasn’t a _date_. It went well. No, we didn’t.” James rolled his eyes.

“Damn. I thought you would have. Carter is gonna rub that into my face. Oh well. Next time, eh, Barnes?” She slapped his shoulder, as if they were companions, and left him alone. The whole interaction left James amused, bemused and confused.

He wasn’t too surprised though that the Agents were gossiping about him. Babysitting them at the Compound can’t be terribly exciting.

He lay in his bed, texting with Tony again.

 **I’m back at the Compound now :p** [Sent at 3:14 pm]

 **You walked through New York City for 4 hours? Damn, Jimothy. Committed to reducing your carbon foot-print.** [Sent at 3:18 pm]

  **I like walking, don’t judge.** [Sent at 3:20 pm]

 **Aw, I’m not. Are you free tonight?** [Sent at 3:22 pm]

 **Am I ever not haha yeah of course :D I’m excited to see what your favourite place in Manhattan is. Food-related?** [Sent at 3:24 pm]

 **Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll have to wait and see. I’ll come pick you up around 6?** [Sent at 3:26 pm]

 **Yeah. See you then :p** [Sent at 3:28 pm]

James rolled out of bed, walking over to the kitchen. Sliding his phone into his jeans, he opened the fridge and pulled out his favourite yoghurt. He was slowly getting used to living with one arm again. A phantom feeling, but used to it.

“You’re awfully cheery. Does it have to do with a certain goatee’d superhero?” Sam leant against the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Me? Never. Who?” James looked up from focusing on eating his yoghurt with one hand to Sam.

“You know you can admit you like him. We all know it. And it _was_ a date.” Sam walked over, picking up a banana from the fruit bowl.

James sighed, frowning at his yoghurt. Just when Sam wanted to comfort him, James looked up with the _sweetest_ smile he’s ever seen, “We have another date tonight.”

“My heart!” Sam clutched his chest jokingly, “Oh my god. Another date! Exciting. Where you going?”

“I don’t know. He’s picking me up at 6.” James finished his yoghurt, not able to stop smiling.

“Romantic. How sweet.” Sam punched James’ shoulder playfully. Steve and Natasha walked in, talking and laughing softly.

“What’s up, guys?” Steve leant on Sam, smiling.

“Jimmy here has another date with Tony.” Sam informed them with a wide smile.

“Just kiss already.” Natasha took the orange juice out of the fridge – she had scribbled on it ‘Natasha’s. Steal it and I will kill you.’- and drank from it directly.

“A gentleman never rushes.” James held his hand up, smiling. “You guys going to pick out an outfit for me again?”

“Sure.”

“Of course.”

“We can’t let you dress yourself! Who knows what you’ll wear?!”

*

“I don’t think you want to wear that.” Peter sat on the small armless sofa of Tony’s closet, looking up at his mentor. His mentor, who’s holding two different jackets, both vastly different patterns.

“That’s no help.” Tony sighed, putting back the two jackets. “Do I wear casual outfit? Do I look like I’m trying?” He went through this closet, trying to find an outfit for the date. Tony, ecstatic for the date, was an absolute fashion disaster however.

“Maybe just casual but nice. A shirt with a tie and black trousers? Jeans?” Peter suggested, standing up to gather said items from the various points.

A navy blue shirt with a black tie and black trousers.

“Easy. Elegant. Just knock him over with your natural charm.” Peter grinned, eyes twinkling.

“My natural charm. That ought to do it. Okay, go home, kid.”

“What? But I want to be _here_ when you come back!” Peter pouted.

“You’ll hear everything from Rhodey tomorrow, you little gossip.” Tony rolled his eyes, grinning and nudged Peter out of the closet. “Besides, I don’t want to hear anything from Aunt May about how I’m keeping you from spending time with her.”

“Fine. I’ll just get everything from Mister Rhodey.” Peter sighed wistfully but left with a wave and a smile, leaving Tony to get ready for the night.

*

“You look really nice, Jimothy.” Tony stood, leant against the car. James stood in front of him, leather jacket and braided hair, with a bright smile on his face. He looked much younger when he smiled.

“I clean up well, I know. But that’s nothing compared to you. You look really good.” James walked closer to where Tony was stood. The two stood in front of each other, smiling at each other’s faces when the Agent knocked on the inside of the window.

“Right. After you.” Tony opened up the door for James to which he got in after winking at the other man.

“Where are we headed, Mister Stark?” The Agent asked once the two were settled into the back of the car, next to each other.

“107th and West.” Tony smiled excitedly. “My favourite food-related place in Manhattan.”

“I have high expectation, Solnyshko.”

“And you will have amazing results, Jimothy.”

*

“Loaf it off?” James stared up at the sign in front of him with his eyebrows raised high. “That has to be either the worst pun I’ve ever read or the best. If they have a good loaf of bread, then it’s the best.” He grinned, laughing softly.

Tony smiled brightly, “It’s the best bakery in the city. They do cupcakes, donuts, breads.” He took James’ hand hesitantly, “Let’s go inside.”

“Let’s.” James grinned, squeezing his hand back and the two went inside the small and cozy bakery. The bakery was decked out in soothing warm tones, the walls painted like a setting sunset. They had a wide display with different assortments of freshly baked cupcakes and types of breads. Up against the windows and walls there were small booths and tables, decked out in orange table-cloths.

When Tony came in there was a chorus of, “Tony!” from a small, young teen with pink-dyed hair.

“Mister Stark!” from a middle-aged man with blonde hair and a scar on his jaw.

“Tony!” from another young teen with short, black hair.

And Tony held up his right hand, “Hey, everybody.”

“Who’s this?” The pink-haired teen leant over the counter, smiling at James.

“This is my date, James Barnes.” Tony spoke confidently and James’ heart stopped for a second. Date. His _date_. _His_ date! He smiled the most friendly he could, squeezing Tony’s hand.

“Hi, everybody.” James smiled at the three employees. The pink-haired teen had a name tag with ‘Sadie’, the man with ‘Cameron’ and the black-haired teen with ‘Max’. Except them, the small bakery was empty.

“What can I get for you today, Tony and James?” Sadie grinned from behind the cashier.

“Can I get the usual? What about you, Jimothy?” Tony turned to James, who had let go of his hand to look at all the different cupcakes.

“The ‘too high for muffin’ cupcake looks good. What’s in it?” James focused on one cupcake with thick frosting on the top with a red covering.

“Strawberry filled with cream cheese frosting.” Sadie came to stand behind the display, leaning down. “A popular with cheese lovers, really.”

“And the ‘Loaf like you’ve never loafed before’?” James looked at the different assortments of breads available and the ungodly number of _puns_ everywhere.

Sadie giggled, “That’s lemon bread baked covered in lemon icing.”

“Wow. That sounds good. Can I have those two, please? They sound deliciously punny.” James chuckled, walking back to Tony.

“Will that be all?” Sadie rung them up as Max fixed the order on a plate.

“Yeah, thank you, Sadie. Here you go.” Tony gave Sadie some cash, putting in most of it into the ‘tip’ glass next to the cashier.

“Thank you so much, Tony. Your order will be with you shortly.” Sadie smiled brightly at the two older men.

“Come on.” Tony took James’ hand again and led them to a booth in the corner.

“This your favourite place in Manhattan?” James smiled as they sat down opposite each other. “I like it. It’s cute, it’s quiet. And it has a _lot_ of puns.”

“Yeah. It’s family-owned. Sadie and Max are siblings and Cameron is their cousin. Sadie and Max’ parents own it. It’s just off the main street so it’s easy to get too. Sadly, it’s still a bit undiscovered but I come here a lot, I try and support it as much they allow me too.” He chuckled softly.

“That’s sweet. How did you discover this place?” James leant forward on the table, letting his right hand rest in the middle of the table.

Tony leant forward as well, taking James’ hand in his slowly. “I discovered this after my parent’s death. I was holed up in my room and Rhodey came in all righteously. ‘You need to get out. You can’t hide from the world. Shower and get fresh air.’ I was walking aimlessly around New York City, mostly keeping away from main streets. And I came upon this little bakery here. Loaf it off. And I’ve been coming here ever since. It’s like my own little safe haven. Well, now it’s our little safe haven. I mean, Brooklyn Burgers and Manhattan Muffins.”

“Our little secret.” James grinned, squeezing Tony’s hand.

Max came over with a tray, balancing the plates and drink on it. “Here you go.” He smiled, taking the four plates off and the cup of coffee then left with the tray.

“What did you get?” James looked at Tony’s order.

“I always get the same. The ‘Peanut’s butter with you in life’ and ‘Lemon of your life’, with black coffee and lots of sugar.” Tony grinned. “It’s peanut butter and chocolate and that’s lemon angel food. Awful names, aren’t they?”

“They are and yet I can see why you’d come back. It’s nice.” James took the cupcake and bit into it. The taste of strawberry mixed with the taste of the cream cheese and it shouldn’t have been as delicious as it was. “Oh, fuck. That’s so good.” He swallowed and looked up at Tony.

Tony grinned, licking his lips slowly. “I know.” He bit into his own cupcake, savouring the taste.

“Can I try some of your cupcake? I’ve never tasted cupcakes like these.” James leant forward, smiling softly.

“What did you have back in the day, then?” Tony held up the cupcake and James bit into it, maintaining eye-contact with Tony.

James smirked at Tony’s reddening cheeks and leant back, chewing happily on the peanut butter-chocolate cupcake. “I mean, we had cupcakes. But they were plain in comparison to these. And not as punny.” He chuckled, wiping away the crumbs from his lips.

Tony nodded slowly, “Right.” He took a sip from his coffee and put it back down. “Did the hospital find the Goo Goo Clusters, by the way?”

“They did and they even gave me a bag to carry them in when I went back to the Compound. I haven’t told anyone else though. Those are mind.” James nodded definitively, finishing off his own cupcake.

“You know, they weren’t that hard to find. I can always get you more. Or you can, with the help of the internet.” Tony shrugged, smiling lopsidedly.

“I know, but they mean more to me because you and the kid gave them to me. It’s nice to have something for myself. And if Steve wants some, he can get his own. He knows this world longer than I have.” James chuckled, cutting the piece of bread in half.

“You’ve been to Wakanda, though. We must be bleak in comparison.” Tony finished his own cupcake.

“Wakanda was amazing and unbelievable. Everything I ever though the future would look like. New York City does lack in comparison to that. There’s only one place in New York that compares, really.”

“Oh yeah? Where’s that?”

“Your workshop.” James grinned, munching on his lemon bread happily.

“My workshop? Oh, no. I can only imagine the wonders that Shuri’s lab had.” Tony waved his hand dismissively.

“It was wondrous. But I like your workshop a bit better. It’s more familiar and it has you in it, after all. What could compare?” James leant forward, leaning his head to the side in a flirtatious manner.

“Oh, well, I-uh-“ Tony looked down, cheeks reddening just slightly. “It would be better with you in it. I can get you a new arm. It won’t be as lightning proof as if Shuri had made it, but I can try my best.” He leant forward as well, regaining his sweet smile.

“I’m sure it will do good, anyway, solnyshko.” James took another bite of the lemon bread, finishing it one bite.

“I guess you could say it will handle the situation, Tesoro.” Tony grinned, sipping from his coffee.

“Really? Handle? Wow.”

“Let me make terrible puns! We’re in a punny bakery in Manhattan. This is how we live.” Tony laughed softly.

“What does Tesoro mean?” James asked in a soft, quiet voice.

“Treasure.” Tony looked down at his half-eaten bread but looked back up at James with a certain glint in his eyes, “because you anchorage my heart for booty.”

“No.”

*

After they finished their cupcakes and breads- both delightful in name and taste- they stayed sitting in their little booth. The sun was hanging low in the sky, illuminating the shop with warm, orange tones. Despite the fact that Tony had been in here countless times, it was still breath-taking the way that the bakery dipped everything in saturated, sunshine. James held Tony’s hand, resting on the table.

“This is absolutely beautiful.”

“New York City isn’t exactly a beautiful city so you find beauty in the small places. Where you can find it.”

“New York City may not be the most beautiful city but I think it has heart. Heart and Soul. I’m Heart and you’re Soul.” James grinned, chuckling softly.

“Is that so? I’m soul? Why am I the Soul?” Tony teased, settling his other hand over James’ hand holding his own.

“A Soul is what gives the body life. It has spirit, it has energy. That’s what you are. When you talk about things you love, you radiate energy. It’s absolutely beautiful.” James said in such a sincere tone it made Tony’s heart _ache_ and his stomach flutter with…butterflies.

“Aw, Tesoro, you are so sweet to an old man.”

“I’m older than you, solnyshko. Nice try. It’s true.” James squeezed Tony’s hands.

“Are you older than me, though? I mean, really. I look older than you. I’m not a young, hot super-soldier.”

“Good thing I’m not a super-soldier, either then. I’m only a pumped up soldier. Like a half-inflated beach ball.” James joked, causing Tony to chuckle with eyes glinting.

“A half-inflated beach ball.”

“Yeah, Steve is maybe a bit too inflated.”

“I like that analogy. What does that make me, though?”

“You’re not a beach ball, you’re like something else completely.”

“Okay what beach-themed item would I be?” Tony raised an eyebrow in amusement.

“Ice cream. Definitely ice cream. I’m thinking maybe-“ James sighed, thinking. He looked up at the ceiling, grinning. “Stracciatella?”

“You know what stracciatella is?” Tony looked at James in amazement.

“Yeah, I know all your little Italian ice cream flavours. Ice cream is important to know. There’s such delightful new flavours.”

“I have a Ben and Jerry’s flavour named after me, you know.” Tony shrugged, bragging a bit.

“I know, and it’s delicious. Stark raving chocolate.” James winked.

“Why do you think I would be stracciatella, though?”

“Creamy with little chocolate bits mixed in there? It’s like the best of both worlds. What would I be?”

Tony laughed softly after a moment of thinking, “Oh! I know! Ben and Jerry’s have this one flavour called ‘Caramel Chew Chew’. That’s you.”

“What is it?” James frowned a bit, narrowing his eyes suspiciously for dramatic effect.

“We can get some and eat it in the park, if you want. There’s a supermarket near here.” Tony shrugged.

“Yeah, let’s do it!”

*

The supermarket was mostly empty with a few random shoppers. Thankfully, no one paid too much attention to Tony and James, holding hands and walking to the frozen section.

“There we go.” Tony pointed at the flavour on one shelf. James let go of Tony’s hand and took it out, sliding the door to the side and picking it up.

“ ‘Caramel ice cream with a caramel swirl and chocolatey covered caramel chunks’?” James read aloud. “I am very sweet and caramel-like.” He chuckled, nudging Tony next to him.

“Let’s get some spoons and we can share.” Tony nudged him back, chuckling as well. An old lady watched them from the end of the aisle, smiling softly and approached them.

“Can I just say, you two make such an adorable couple!” She placed a hand on James’ shoulder. “I hope you enjoy your night together.”

“Oh-“ Tony was about to correct her; they weren’t a _couple_ \- or were they? But before he could say anything, James smiled brightly and said:

“Thank you.”

The lady left with a soft pat on James’ shoulder and the one-armed man quickly turned back to Tony. “I’m sorry, I know we’re not together but she was-“

“We’re not?”

“I mean. We can be, if you want to.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, I want to be. Your boyfriend. I want to be your boyfriend.” James smiled down at Tony, the two standing close together with James holding the ice cream between them.

“Then you _are_ my boyfriend. And I am yours.” Tony smiled brightly, eyes twinkling with the familiar sparkle that lit James’ heart alight.

“My boyfriend, Tony Stark.” James grinned, leaning his head against Tony’s. Tony rested his hands against James’ chest, sliding one to cup James’ cheek.

“My boyfriend, Jimothy Barnes.”

*

Checking out from the supermarket, the two men had only eyes for each other. The poor cashier was dying from the fact that _Iron Man_ and _Winter Soldier_ were checking out _Ice Cream_ and _mooning over each other._

“That’ll be 8 dollars and 30 cents, please.” ‘Amy’ smiled brightly at them.

“Let me get this. You got our cupcakes, let me get this.” James stopped Tony from pulling out his wallet.

“Okay, Tesoro.” Tony chuckled and took the items while James paid for the items.

“I know this sounds probably dumb but do you think I could get your autographs?” Amy asked shyly, blushing brightly.

“Of course. What do you want us to sign?” Tony smiled softly.

Amy pulled out her phone from beneath the cashier and a sharpie. “Can you sign my phone case? Please?”

“Sure.” Tony chuckled softly and signed her phone case.

“Can I get yours too, Mister Barnes?” She asked James shyly.

“Me? Oh. Sure.” James looked a bit taken aback but signed it anyways.

“Thank you so much! Have a lovely evening!” She was near tears from excitement and clutched her phone while they left.

“You better get used to that, Jimothy. You’re an Avenger.” Tony chuckled, holding the ice cream and plastic spoons to his chest.

“My autograph, though?” James took the ice cream from Tony and took his hand, squeezing it. “I guess I should. I never thought I would end up here.”

“I’m glad you did. End up here. With me.” Tony smiled as they entered central park.

“With you.”

*

Sitting on a bench, eating ice cream together, at night. A date neither Tony nor James thought they would ever be on but it was much more romantic that it sounded like. They sat on the bench, thighs pressing together, devouring the ice cream quickly.

“What do you think?” Tony asked once they finished and had thrown it away. Walking around the park, James put his arm around Tony’s shoulder and pulled him close. Tony slid his arm around James’ waist, letting his head rest on James’ shoulder. The perfect height difference.

“You were right. I _am_ Caramel Chew Chew. Next time, we’re getting stracciatella, though.” James grinned.

“You’ve had it before, though, right?”

“Oh yeah. Steve took me to an ice cream parlour in Brooklyn. Made me try all different flavours. He wanted to show me the best thing that the 21st century could offer. He was wrong though.”

“Really? Ice cream _isn’t_ the best thing 2017 can offer you?”

“Oh yeah. You know what is?” James stopped walking, cupping Tony’s cheek and leaning in close.

Tony’s heart stopped and he looked up into James’ eyes. “No, what?” He mumbled.

“Brooklyn burgers.” James smirked and continued walking.

“Piccolo merda.” Tony mumbled under his breath and caught up with James, who was laughing softly.

*

Walking through central park at night would have been worrying, had Tony not been with James. James, who held Tony close to him and despite the braids in his hair, looked like he was ready to jump and fight anyone who dared to cross their paths.

“You can’t trust people at night in central park, Tony.”

“We are people at night in central park, though.” Tony teased James, enjoying the closeness.

“We don’t count. Besides, when I was still a teen, Central park was a Hooversville. Now, it’s a public park. Steve told me about the crime rate of walking at night in parks. It’s not nice.” James sighed.

“It used to be much worse. The 1970s and 80s were much worse. Now it’s not as bad. Besides, walking at night _anywhere_ always holds a certain danger to it. I’ve had danger in my life since I was a baby. It- it doesn’t get easier anyway.” Tony sighed.

“It doesn’t. But it’s nice when you have someone to share the burden with. You are not Atlas, you do not have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“So poetic, mi amore.” Tony grinned and leant up to kiss James’ cheek.

James smiled brightly, cheeks slightly red.

*

Arriving back at the tower, Tony held James’ hand in his two. “Would you like to come up for some tea? I got new flavours.”

“New flavours of tea? I _must_ try these new flavours.” James chuckled softly, leaning his head against Tony’s.

“You must.” Tony grinned widely, pulling James into the building, past the security and into the elevator.

“Cupcakes, Ice cream and Tea. This was the best date I’ve ever had.” James hugged Tony close, resting his head on top of the smaller man’s.

“Mine too. I never showed anyone my little safe haven. Our little save haven. Now we have two.” Tony hummed, hugging James tightly.

The two arrived at the top and walked into the kitchen, James’ arm over Tony’s. Rhodey was standing next to the counter, braces on his legs, and turned around with a wide smile.

“OH! Hello, there. Most curious to see you two here, out of all places.” Rhodey grinned, speaking in a mysterious way.

Tony narrowed his eyes, “I live here. It’s not _that_ weird.” He walked over to the coffee machine, filling two mugs with hot water.

James just chuckled, “you have someone to text there, Rhodey?”

“Not at all, Jimothy. Not at all.” Rhodey had taken his phone out, typing out several messages with a smile.

“Of course not.” James nodded solemnly with a sly smile on his lips. He sat down on one of the chairs behind the counter.

Tony turned around to James, setting down the two mugs in front of James. “I have passionfruit, strawberry-watermelon and Mandarin-apple.”

“Why do you have such _specific_ flavours of tea, Tones? What ever happened to classic earl grey?” Rhodey sighed wistfully, leaning his head on his hand.

“Boring. Jimothy?” Tony laughed softly, turning back to James.

“Mandarin-apple?” James guessed, not inclined to any of those really.

“Best choice. Good man.” Tony nodded and took two tea bags from the other side of the counter, letting them seep into the two mugs.

“Well. I will retire back to my room. Have a good night you two.” Rhodey grinned and walked away, still texting on his phone.

“We are surrounded by gossips. Awful, gossipy hens.” Tony shook his head.

“If you think that’s gossip, Rhodey has nothing on Shield Agents. I’m pretty sure they have a betting pool.”

“Oh do they now?” Tony raised his eyebrows, “The exciting life of Shield Agents, I guess.”

“It’s so exciting. The other day Steve dropped his sandwich and O’Riley gave Carter a dollar. They bet on _everything_. It would be hilarious if we weren’t the ones it was about.” James chuckled softly.

“I bet. By the way, I haven’t shown you around, have I?” Tony picked up one mug, motioning to leave.

“Officially not, no.” James took the other mug and followed as Tony started walking.

“To be fair, you’ve seen the kitchen and the living room. Over there’s the bathroom if you need it.” Tony started walking down the corridor, James following. “That’s Rhodey’s room. That’s a guest room. Sometimes, Pepper stays over in there. That’s the gym. Well, a ‘gym’. It’s just a room with mats in it and some working out stuff.” Tony opened the door to reveal a middle-sized room covered in mats and a running machine in the back, the wall covered in windows to reveal New York City at night.

“What are the mats for?”

“Pepper’s pushing Rhodey and me to do yoga. Hence, the mats.” Tony sighed but chuckled softly.

“I’d love to see that.” James grinned, looking back at Tony.

“Me doing Yoga is highly entertaining, I know.” Tony nudged James softly, pushing his shoulder playfully but James just leant down, kissing Tony’s cheek. He was still holding his tea with his only hand or else he would have caught Tony’s hand to hold it.

“It so would be though.” James grinned. “Let’s continue.” He smiled and Tony nodded, looking away with a slight blush.

“And this is my bedroom. There’s nothing else on this floor.” Tony opened the door to his bedroom. He had a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room with two night-stands next to each side. Above the bed was a transom window, spanning across the top half of the wall. A glass sliding door went to his closet and next to it, a wooden door to his bathroom. The contrast between glass, wall and wood shouldn’t work but it looked nice. Apart from the furniture, there were two armchairs in one corner in light blue colours. He had a few posters from ‘Black Sabbath’ and ‘ACDC’ hung on his walls. The floor was covered in a soft carpet.

“Cozy. I like it.” James smiled.

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice.” Tony smiled, sipping on his tea and set it down on the nightstand, sitting down on his bed. He kicked his shoes off and laid down on one side, patting the other for James to lie down.

“Aw, inviting me to bed. I didn’t even buy you dinner, yet.” James teased, setting down his tea on the other side and climbing on the bed after taking off his shoes and jacket.

“Sh.” Tony waved his hand dismissively as they lay next to each other. “I’m tired and I don’t want you to go yet. I want to talk to you, still. If you want, you can spend the night.” He said in a shy, quiet voice.

“I’d love to. Thank you, kotyonok.”

“What’s that?” Tony turned on his side, curling towards James.

“Little kitten.” James chuckled, pulling Tony towards him and sliding an arm around him. Tony cuddled into his side, closing his eyes.

“That’s so adorable. But I’m not a kitten. If at all, I’m a mighty lion.”

“Sure you are, kotyonok. Of course. Is that what your spirit animal is? A lion?”

“Mh, no, I don’t think so. I like to think my spirit animal would be probably something like a polar bear.”

“A polar bear? Why so?” James closed his eyes. The feeling of cuddling with the man he’s - _in love with_ \- was amazing and he couldn’t stop smiling.

“They’re awesome. Polar bear’s  are strong and they care for their family no matter what. I like to think I’d take care of my family no matter what.” Tony mumbled.

“That’s sweet.” James mumbled, turning on his side so he and Tony were face to face.

“And you?” Tony opened his eyes slowly, looking at the beautiful young man in front of him.

“Otters are cute.” James grinned, leaning in close. He nuzzled his nose against Tony’s, holding his own breath.

“You’re cute.” Tony mumbled, closing his eyes again.

“Thank you, gorgeous.” James breathed and Tony leaned in suddenly, closing the distance between the two and kissing him gently.

James held Tony close, kissing him back softly. The kiss caused both of the men’s hearts to race quickly, their stomachs filled with butterflies and Tony pulled away softly.

“I wanted to do that since the first time you stood in my workshop.”

“Me too.” James smiled and kissed Tony’s nose gently. “Goodnight, medvzhonok. Little bear.” He chuckled softly at Tony’s expression of awe and raised eyebrows.

“Goodnight, piccolo Iontra. Little otter.” Tony stuck his tongue out at James who kissed him again, slow and gentle.

The two men fell asleep quite easily, still in their clothes, holding each other close.

*

“I won! Y’all thought this wasn’t the night.” Sam laughed triumphantly, looking down at his phone. Sam, Steve, Natasha, Clint, O’Riley and Sharon Carter were in their living room- Scott Lang moved to San Fransisco after patching things up with Hope Van Dyne- awaiting James’ return.

On the coffee table were about 12 dollars- a bet on how the night would end for James and Tony.

“Why? What happened?” Steve peered over Sam’s shoulder on his phone.

“Rhodey texted me! James and Tony came back to the tower and are now in his room.” He laughed and Natasha grinned brightly, along with O’Riley and Carter.

“Well-done, our team. We had more trust in those two idiots and so we won.” Sam high-fived Nat, O’Riley and Carter.

Clint huffed, “They couldn’t have waited _one more date_.” But he was smiling, happy for them.

Steve shook his head with an amused smile, “I was _sure_ they wouldn’t on this one!”

“Well, they did.” Sam grinned, “They fell asleep on top of each other, according to Friday. But they kissed. So, that makes it official. I’ll take my share. Thank you.” He grinned picking up 3 dollars and pocketing them.

Natasha grinned, “Molodets, Zajka.” And pocketed 3 dollars.

O’Riley and Carter followed, taking the last 6 dollars and splitting them between the two. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” Carter grinned and left the room, yawning as she went.

O’Riley nodded, “What she said.” With a grin and followed her.

Sam patted Steve on the back of his shoulder, “I’m sure there will be more bets, big guy. Let’s go to sleep.”

Steve nodded, chuckling, “There’s always something going on.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Molodets, Zajka- Well done, Bunny
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goo_Goo_Cluster
> 
> All puns are awfully created by a sleep-deprived and depressed author who took recipes from this website: https://ahelicoptermom.com/101-cupcakes-recipes
> 
> Next chapter will be the morning after/ epilogue sort of/ short chapter that wraps up the story for this fic! But I have more planned for this series!


	10. A Sort of Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Morning After, Mario Cart and a new Arm!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this chapter is HELLA short but I wanted this to be a sort of wrap-up for the whole fic! There's more I'll add to the series like the first-month-anniversary-date of James and Tony, Tony and Steve where they talk and other things!!!

_“When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you’d like them to be.” Leo Tolstoy_

Through the night, Tony and James had changed their positions so James ended up spooning Tony, holding the smaller man close to him. This night- whether it was due to sleeping next to someone you loved or other factors- was as peaceful as can be. James didn’t dream- or if he did, he didn’t remember any- as he woke up. Tony was still sleeping in his arms, leaning back onto James.

James smiled sleepily, closing his eyes again and squeezing the body in his arms. He had one arm around Tony’s neck and another around his waist, his hands placed on his chest and stomach. Tony’s hands had curled up around James’ arms.

“Beautiful.” James mumbled and dozed back off to sleep. There was nothing compared to this feeling- waking up to seeing Tony’s peaceful face next to his was enough to make James’ stomach flutter with butterflies.

Drifting back into sleep came easy to him, nuzzling his head into Tony’s neck. This time, he dreamt off walking through New York City with Tony, slow with the sun setting and dipping the entire city in orange light.

Tony woke up a few minutes after James had, blinking several times to get his orientation back. He felt James’ arms wrapped tightly around himself with James’ face pressed to the back of his neck and he couldn’t stop himself from blushing, James breathing slowly onto his neck was just the tiniest bit ticklish.

He had dreamt of his workshop, of Peter and James, of dark nights that ended in sunlight. He moved slightly, turning on his back to give himself more space. Whenever he slept on his side, it felt almost like a cave-in from his lungs due to the arc reactor.

“Good morning.” James mumbled, moving his arms to accommodate Tony better.

“Good morning.” Tony smiled, looking to the side to see James open his eyes and smile back at him.

“How did you sleep?” Tony sat up on the bed slowly, tugging at his clothes lightly. The tie had loosened during sleep but he was still wearing a button down and it was just itchy now.

James sat up as well slowly, having undone his hair at one point during the night. “Really well. Better than I have in ages. What about you?” He admitted, smiling shyly. He had slept in a button down as well and jeans.

“Yeah, me too.” Tony cupped James’ jaw, kissing his cheek. “But I really want to shower and get out of these clothes. You can shower first, if you want. I have some sweatpants and t shirts for you to wear.” He offered.

James let his hand slide from Tony’s face down to his neck and pulled his face close. “That would be amazing. Thank you.” He grinned.

They stayed like this for a few moments then got out of the bed. Tony pulled some clothes out of his walk-in closet and towels for James and showed him the shower. “Thanks, Tony.” He grinned as he closed the door and Tony went back to the closet to get some clothes for himself.

He sat back down on the bed, taking the phone from where it had slid out of his clothes and checked his text messages. He had several from Peter, from Rhodey and from Pepper.

**From Peter:**

**How did your date go? :D** [Sent at 10:45 pm]  
**Aww its going good** [Sent at 11:15 pm]  
**TOO GOOD. IM CALLING RHODEY.** [Sent at 11:45 pm]  
**Aw aren’t you just adorable!** [Sent at 12:00]

**From Rhodes:  
Too adorable, Tony. Hope you two had a nice night ;) come to breakfast with clothes PLEASE ** [Sent at 6:45 am]

**From Pepper:  
HOW come I haven’t heard about JAMES until NOW!! From Peter, of all people. TONY, call me after you’re done! I need details. ** [Sent at 11:14 pm]  
**It’s clearly going well. I’m so glad, Tony. I hope you had a great time!! <3 **[Sent at 11:36 pm]

Tony frowned at the comments from Peter and Rhodey. “Friday? Did you tell them anything from last night?”

_“Colonel Rhodes used to his authorization to take a screenshot of yourself with Mister Barnes asleep, sir. I had no part in the matter.”_

“Mh. Sure.” Tony shook his head and put the phone back down when James came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips and clothes in one hand.

“Sorry, the bathroom was too steamy.” He grinned as he walked over to where Tony was sitting.

Tony stood up, staring a bit shamelessly at James’ wet chest and licking his lips. “Oh, no problem, whatsoever.” He chuckled and walked into the shower.

He opened up the window and undressed, showering quickly and drying off then getting dressed. He walked back into his bedroom where James was laying on the bed, dressed in a shirt that was slightly too tight for him and sweatpants that fitted just right. “Hey, gorgeous.” He smiled and walked over to Tony.

“Mh.” Tony smiled, embracing James in a hug. “Breakfast?” He offered, nuzzling his head into James’ neck.

“I’d love to. But before that, there’s something else I want to do.” James whispered, sliding his hands along Tony’s back.

“What’s that?” Tony hummed, letting his hands rest on James’ hips, looking up at the other man. James leant their faces together then leant forward, connecting their lips in a gentle, intimate kiss. Tony’s eyes fluttered close and he kissed him back softly. James’ hand came up to frame Tony’s face and he pulled away.

“I love doing that.” James grinned then took Tony’s hand and kissed it. “I’m starving though. Let’s eat.” He chuckled.

“Let’s.” Tony smiled softly, beaming at the other man.

*

Walking into the kitchen, James had his only arm wrapped around Tony’s shoulders again and Tony had his arm slung around James’ back.

Rhodey sat at the counter, eating cereal and reading the paper. Looking up, he grinned. “Good morning, lovebirds. How are you this morning?”

“We’re good, thank you for asking, nosy best friend.” Tony stuck his tongue out at Rhodey and walked over to the coffee machine. “What do you want to eat, Jimothy? We have toast, cereal, eggs, waffle mix.”

“Toast is good.” James shrugged.

Tony pointed at the cabinet next James’ head, “Toast is in there, butter’s in the fridge and we _should_ have strawberry jam in the fridge as well. Unless someone else ate it.”

“I would never.” Rhodey said monotonously.

“Oh no, never. You hate strawberries.” Tony rolled his eyes with a small smile on his face.

“Never liked ‘em, Tony. I didn’t eat your strawberry jam.”

“Sure you didn’t.”

James laughed at the exchange between the two men and started making himself breakfast. Making breakfast with one hand wasn’t as hard as it looked but it was harder than James remembered.

The three men sat around the counter, Tony drinking his coffee, Rhodey finishing his cereal and James eating his toast.

“Jimothy, I was thinking about your new arm. Maybe I could build you a regular prosthetic so you could have a regular arm and then you could have an arm for battle.” Tony suggested, taking out his phone and pulling up different designs.

“You don’t have to carry a heavy metal arm around, if you want.”

James nodded slowly, “Yeah. Maybe, yeah.” He looked at the designs. To him, they just looked like arms.

“I can get you a prosthetic arm quicker than a metal arm. So you don’t have to be one-armed for too long.” Tony shrugged.

“Really? Yeah, okay, I’ll take that. How’s your design going on your finger braces?” James asked curiously, remembering that Tony had mentioned designing a pair of braces for his fingers that would allow his fingers to move individually again.

Tony smiled brightly, “I finished the designs and I’m going to work on the proto-types today. What are you up to today?”

“Natasha and I want to teach Steve how to fight properly. The man has his own fighting style but I want to make sure he can actually fight. He jumps on people and lets his weight do the work.” James chuckled, shaking his head. “Sam and Clint wanted to show me something. A videogame, I think.”

“A video game? Which one?” Rhodey raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Something called ‘Mario Cart’?” James shrugged. Rhodey and Tony exchanged glances then both stood up abruptly.

“Let’s go, Barnes. We’ll show you how to beat those idiots at Mario Cart.” Rhodey grinned.

James stood up slowly, finishing his toast and followed the two men. “You guys know it?”

“De we _know_ it? It’s the only thing we played for days when it came out, back in 1992.” Tony laughed and the three men sat down on the couch. “We still play it sometimes, don’t we?”

“I beat you, is what we do.” Rhodey smirked, getting out the controllers from beneath the coffee table that was in front of the couch.

“I only have one hand though. How can I play with one hand?” James frowned.

“You can play it like that. You only need to balance the controller and press some buttons.” Rhodey showed James the controller.

“I’ll help the best I can.” Tony kissed James’ cheek.

*

After several rounds of James _failing_ miserably at this game, James finally managed to land at 5 th place. By pure luck, but James took it anyway.

“Okay, so maybe you won’t beat Sam or Barton but I bet their faces will look so dumb once they realize they can’t beat you mercilessly.” Rhodey nodded, laughing.

“I think they will, anyway. But this was fun.” James set the controller down and smiled at the other two. “I think I should make my way back to the Compound.” He stood up slowly and the other two followed.

“Ah, it was fun beating you, too.” Rhodey grinned, clasping James’ hand and left the room.

Tony hugged James, “Let me give you a bag to carry back your clothes.” The two walked back to Tony’s room, holding each other’s hands. “I’ll start working on your arm, too.” He put James’ clothes into a bag and gave it to James.

“Thank you, solnyshko. This was amazing.” James took Tony’s hand, kissing it gently.

“Yeah, it was.” Tony smiled, walking to the elevator with him. “I’ll see you soon. Right?”

“You’re not getting rid of me so easily.” James smiled and pulled Tony into a slow kiss but just as intimate as before leaving Tony breathless.

“Goodbye, medvzhonok.”

“Bye, piccolo Iontra.”

*

Back at the Compound, Natasha, Sam, Clint and Steve were sitting in the living room, waiting for James to come back. They were all crowded on the couch, playing Mario Cart.

As soon as James walked in, Natasha called out, “Walk of shame!” She grinned and turned to look at him. “Oh. You’re wearing his clothes? Oh!” she laughed, uncharacteristically happy and out-spoken. She got up from the couch, abandoning her controller and walked over to James.

“Barnes! I hope you used protection!” Clint smirked, doing the same. Sam paused the game. Steve punched Clint’s shoulder with a glare.

“I carry a knife on me at all times, of course I’m protected.” James frowned and tried not to laugh at Clint’s expression.

Steve walked over to James, smiling brightly. “It went well?”

“Yeah. It’s official, now. Tony’s my boyfriend.” James grinned brightly and was immediately enveloped by Steve and Natasha.

“Congratulations!”

“Molodets, Zajka.”

“Thank you, thank you.” James chuckled, hugging the two back with his one arm.

“So, tell us everything! Where did you go? Did you kiss? What happened?” Clint leant back on the couch, stretching himself out.

“I won’t tell you anything, Barton. I’m still a gentleman. I don’t kiss and tell.” James winked at Clint, who groaned and rolled his eyes but chuckled anyway.

“You still on for training?” Steve grinned, nudging James’ shoulder.

“Are you?” James punched Steve’s stomach lightly.

“Yeah, I am.” Steve laughed, holding James’ hand.

*

Tony finished the prototype for the braces, fitting them to each finger and connecting them on the back of each hand. The middle glowed softly with light as they turned on when they were fully connected.

_“Congratulations, boss. The Mark V are instantly functional.”_

“Thanks, Fri.” Tony grinned and picked up a pen with his right hand. He held it between his thumb and his middle finger, twiddling with it. He sat down at his desk, pulling out a new sheet to write on. “This is perfect.” Tony smirked and started designing a new prosthetic arm for James.

Tony’s heart beat erratically whenever he thought of the night they shared, a small smile grace on his lips and he bit his lip. It had been everything he wanted and more. Just as he finished designing the arm, Peter walked in, holding two cups of coffee and a small bag of donuts.

“Hey, Tony!” He grinned, setting down the goods next to the designs. “No way! You got the braces to work!” Peter spotted Tony’s hands, alight with technology.

“Did you ever doubt me?” Tony held his hands up, chuckling.

“I would never. How was your date last night?” Peter handed one cup over to Tony who took it graciously.

“As if you don’t know already.” Tony rolled his eyes teasingly.

“What are you implying, Tony?” Peter looked as innocent as ever, causing Tony to laugh softly.

“Nothing at all. How’s school-work going?” Tony took a sip from the coffee and returned to the design.

“Oh, you know. Exams are coming up so I’ve been mostly revising for them. Projects due here and there. But I can still help with the arm!”

“When’s your first exam?”

“Next week. It’s Chemistry.”

“Go study, kid. I got this covered. You can study over there.” Tony pointed to the desk pushed to the back.

“Aw! But I wanted to help build an arm! Better and new with more knives.” Peter grinned, taking his coffee.

“You can, when you take breaks. Come on, school is important. You know that.” Tony looked up at the young kid who sighed.

“I know. Alriiiight.” Peter walked over to the desk, taking the backpack from his back and setting it on the desk. “But I’m going to complain the whole time!”

“I wouldn’t expect otherwise. It’s Chemistry.” Tony chuckled.

*

“Steve, stop doing that! That’s not how you fight!” James groaned, pushing Steve off of him. Steve’s tactic of throwing himself at the enemy used to not work with James, who had an arm made out of metal and a physique close to Steve’s. Now, with one arm, James fell to the floor like a sack of flour.

Steve laughed, getting off of James and standing back up. “It’s effective, though.” He grinned.

James rolled his eyes, getting back up on his feet. “Nat, tell him. Please.” He and Steve started circling each other again, James dodging Steve’s fists easily.

“Stop jumping on your enemy, Rogers!” Nat called out from where she was sat, next to the boxing ring with a smoothie in her hand and her feet up on a block that was definitely meant for sport and not what she was using it as.

“But it’s so much fun to see their faces!” Steve called back and James used the opportunity for a sneak attack, tackling Steve to the ground and pinning Steve’s hands together.

“Distracted.” James shook his head and stood back up again. “Again.”

Steve sighed, getting back up. “Relentless.”

“I’m a relentless teacher.”

*

“You know, this arm is _so much lighter_ than the other arm you made for me.” James grinned, flexing his newly attached arm, wriggling his fingers.

“That’s because metal arms are heavier than prosthetic arms. I have good news, as well. Shuri agreed to build you a fully-vibranium arm for battle.” Tony chuckled, kissing James’ cheek.

“Awesome. But I do like this arm. It’s so easy and casual.” James stood up from his stool and picked Tony up, bridal-style and kissed him deeply.

Tony grinned, sliding his arms around James and kissing him back lovingly.

 The two had been now officially together for a week, a week since that fateful day to ‘Loaf it off’. A week full of texting, meetings in the workshop and dates to small diners at night. The trial of Wanda was still underway, Strange collecting evidence from samples of her magic and collecting memories from consenting and willing Steve Rogers and Clint Barton.

The actual trial would be soon and Tony was excited and nervous for it. But as long as he was with James, it didn’t feel as nauseating anymore.

James had slept over at Tony’s apartment for most of the week, the two sleeping much better when they had each other to hold. Of course, most nights were still plagued by nightmares and when one woke up from such a nightmare, the other was there to comfort them. It worked out really well for the two, their sleeping pattern becoming more and more regular.

While James never had such a serious relationship, he was eager and excited to see where this relationship would go with Tony. Tony, serious relationships in the past, but none had felt so open, loving and raw as it did with James. Now, Tony wasn’t one for preaching or lovey-dovey statements. But he could confidently say that adding James to his little family had been one of the best decisions he ever made.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking with me :D I loved all the comments and thank you for all the kudos! This was such fun to write even though at times I wasn't so sure how it would go haha but don't fear, this isn't the end! This is just the beginning; as this fic is just WinterIron getting officially together but there will be more fics coming along!


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